Chicago vs Milwaukee Betting Preview MLB

It’s a terrific pitching matchup from Milwaukee on Tuesday night as the Cubs go with Zach Davies, who was part of a no-hitter in his last outing, against the Brewers’ Brandon Woodruff, an NL Cy Young candidate. Milwaukee is favored on the MLB odds.

How to Bet Cubs at Brewers MLB Odds & TV Info

When: Tuesday, 8:10 PM ET
Where: American Family Field
Probable pitchers (away/home): Zach Davies/Brandon Woodruff
TV: MLB Extra Innings

Why Bet on Chicago?

Will Cubs star first baseman Anthony Rizzo play? He had to be pulled from Sunday’s game at the Dodgers with lower back troubles and those have caused him to miss a handful of games this season. He has a .250/.346/.446 slash line with 10 home runs and 32 RBI through 69 appearances in 2021.

Rizzo leads all left-handed hitters with a .356 average (21-for-59) against left-handed pitching this season. His .935 OPS against southpaws ranks fourth in the majors among all lefty hitters. Rizzo is hitting .215 (39-for-181) with eight homers and a .746 OPS against right-handers. Rizzo is just the seventh Cub with at least 10 10-homer seasons, joining Ernie Banks (17), Billy Williams (14), Ron Santo (13), Sammy Sosa (12), Gabby Hartnett (12) and Ryne Sandberg (11). Kris Bryant would probably play first if Rizzo can’t. Cubs backup catcher P.J. Higgins has been diagnosed with a partially torn UCL that will require Tommy John surgery.

Second baseman Nico Hoerner has begun a Triple-A rehab assignment. He strained his hamstring on May 25^th. Hoerner is one of the Cubs’ better defenders, and he brought his hot bat from spring training into the regular season, batting .338/.405/.432 in 84 trips. Hoerner projects to return to the big-league club sometime in early July.

It’s Zach Davies (5-4) on the mound here. Davies, Ryan Tepera, Andrew Chafin and Craig Kimbrel threw a combined no-hitter against the Dodgers last Thursday. It was the first combined no-hitter in the majors since a quartet of Astros’ right-handers accomplished the feat on August 3, 2019. It was the seventh no-hitter in baseball this season, the most ever before July 1 and tied for the most in a season since 1900, when the modern era began.

Davies walked five batters and was lifted from the contest after throwing 94 pitches (58 strikes) over six frames. The five walks are a season high and all of them came in the first four innings, but Davies ended strong by retiring nine straight Dodgers. Why not keep him in and try for the solo no-hitter? Davis already was at 94 pitches.

“With where he was at in the game, I didn’t see him going nine,” Manager David Ross said. “I just felt like it was a good opportunity with the runner at third and nobody out to push across some more runs.”

Davies has a 4.31 ERA, 1.44 WHIP and 49/41 K/BB ratio across 79 1/3 innings (16 starts).

Why Bet on Milwaukee?

The Brewers (6-3) have won each of their three series against the Cubs this season, all coming in April.

Monitor the status of second baseman Kolten Wong. He left Saturday’s game after experiencing cramping in his calf and was held out of Sunday’s and Monday’s games as well. Wong has already landed on the injured list twice this season with oblique injuries, but he appears to have a strong chance of avoiding a third trip to the IL with the calf issue. When healthy, Wong has been one of the Brewers’ best all-around players. In addition to being a terrific base runner, Wong has supplied consistent offense. He has seven home runs, an .839 OPS and is hitting balls hard at the highest rate of his career.

Close Josh Hader has posted a 0.57 ERA in 32 relief appearances this season. He has made 16 consecutive scoreless appearances. Hader and the Cardinals‘ Alex Reyes are the only closers in the majors who have yet to record a blown save this season (min. 10 opps). Hader is 19-for-19. He is looking to become the sixth pitcher in franchise history to have 20+ straight saves in a season.

It’s right-hander Brandon Woodruff (6-3) on the mound. Woodruff struck out nine while holding the Diamondbacks to one run over seven frames last Wednesday in the Brewers’ 3-2 win. Woodruff retired the first nine batters he faced before Josh Rojas reached on an infield single to lead off the fourth inning. Woodruff also issued a couple walks that frame to load the bases with two out, but he got Christian Walker to ground out to end the threat. That’s the only real trouble he was in, although Walker did break up the shutout bid in the seventh with a solo blast.

In 15 starts this season, Woodruff has allowed two or fewer runs 13 times and he has a 1.89 ERA. He has 12 quality starts and opponents are batting just .154 off him (51-for-331, 9 HRs). He has 111 strikeouts in just 95.0 innings.

Woodruff has gone 1-1 with a 3.06 ERA in 11 career games / 9 starts against the Cubs (50ip, 17er), including 1-0 with a 0.47 ERA in 3 starts this season (19ip, 6h, 1r, 1er, 3bb, 22k, 0hr).