If you'd like a break from all the Braun stuff, there is a baseball game tonight.
At 7:10 tonight the Brewers will send Donovan Hand (3.27 ERA, 3.59 FIP) to the mound to take on the Padres and look to even this week's series. Hand recorded a single out in relief on Saturday, allowing a walk but noting else. He last started on July 4, allowing three runs on six hits over five innings.
Despite only throwing more than 64 pitches one time, Hand has pitched into the fifth inning in each of his three major league starts. Almost 55% of the balls put in play against him have been hit on the ground: only Johnny Hellweg (62%) and Brandon Kintzler (55.5%) have higher rates.
Hand has never faced the Padres in the majors.
He'll face 26-year-old righty Tyson Ross (3.60 ERA, 4.16 FIP), who has also been a swingman in 2013. This is Ross' 23rd appearance this season but only his fourth start. He last pitched in the majors as a reliever on July 7 against the Nationals, allowing two runs on four hits and a walk over two innings. Since then he's made a pair of starts for AAA Tucson.
Ross was the A's second round pick in the 2008 draft, but was dealt to San Diego over the winter. His peripheral numbers are largely ok except for his walks: He's given out about 4.2 free passes per nine innings for his career. Unless you're Nolan Ryan, that's probably not going to work.
Ross has not faced the Brewers in the majors.
Here's tonight's lineup:
Norichika Aoki RF
Logan Schafer LF
Jean Segura SS
Jonathan Lucroy C
Carlos Gomez CF
Rickie Weeks 2B
Juan Francisco 1B
Jeff Bianchi 3B
Donovan Hand P
And in the bullpen:
- Burke Badenhop pitched 1.1 innings (21 pitches) last night.
- Brandon Kintzler pitched one inning (10 pitches) last night.
- Tyler Thornburg pitched one inning (eight pitches) last night.
- John Axford pitched two innings (23 pitches) on Sunday.
- Jim Henderson pitched one inning (18 pitches) on Sunday.
- Francisco Rodriguez pitched one inning (17 pitches) on Sunday.
- Michael Gonzalez pitched one inning (ten pitches) on Sunday.
It's a rare cool July day in Milwaukee. Expect a game-time temperature around 70 under sunny skies with winds blowing from left to right.