Marlins Hope For A Win Against Brewers
MIAMI (AP) -- Even without their All-Star slugger, the Milwaukee Brewers have seen improvement on offense lead to their longest winning streak since April.
Miami's Jacob Turner, however, has been tough to hit since his call-up last month.
The Brewers will try to continue their recent production at the plate and win their fifth straight Tuesday night when they face Turner and the Marlins in Miami.
With Ryan Braun injured, Jonathan Lucroy stepped up with four hits and Carlos Gomez and Rickie Weeks added three apiece as Milwaukee (26-37) matched a season high with 16 hits in a 6-1 victory in Monday's series opener.
"Anytime you have one of your big boys out and you can score and do what we did and get that many hits, it's big," said manager Ron Roenicke, whose club's four-game win streak is its longest since a nine-game run April 14-23.
A sore thumb kept Braun out of the lineup for the second time in six games, a day after the injury caused him to leave early in a 9-1 win over Philadelphia. Milwaukee hopes its RBI leader can avoid the disabled list.
Carlos Gomez moved into Braun's No. 3 spot in the lineup Monday, driving in two runs and scoring two for the second straight game. Jean Segura also has keyed the win streak, going 6 for 18 with four RBIs. Weeks, meanwhile, is 8 for 17 with two homers in his last six games to raise his batting average over .200 for the first time since April 16.
The Brewers have scored 24 times over the last four games, hitting .325 with runners in scoring position. They were 3 for 27 in those situations over the previous four games while totaling eight runs.
Norichika Aoki remains a major catalyst atop the lineup, batting .341 during an 11-game hitting streak. He's batted .412 in nine career games against the Marlins (18-45), but Aoki and the Brewers have never faced Turner (1-0, 0.69 ERA).
The 22-year-old right-hander has allowed one run and nine hits over 13 innings in two starts since being promoted from Triple-A New Orleans on May 31.
"I'm very happy with him," manager Mike Redmond said. "He goes down to the minors, gets his work in, comes back and pitches well."
Turner spent parts of two seasons with Detroit before getting traded to Miami in July, going 2-5 with a 4.42 ERA in 10 starts last year.
Milwaukee counters with Wily Peralta (4-7, 6.16), who is 1-5 with a 6.98 ERA over his last six starts.
After snapping a four-start losing streak at Philadelphia on June 1, Peralta lost to the Phillies on Thursday as he allowed five runs, seven hits and four walks in five innings of a 5-1 defeat.
Peralta won his only career start against the Marlins, giving up three runs in six-plus innings in an 8-5 road win Sept. 5.
Giancarlo Stanton went 0 for 3 in that contest and was 1 for 4 on Monday after missing six weeks with a strained hamstring.
"It was miserable not being able to play so I was happy I was out there," said Stanton, hitting .228 with three homers and nine RBIs in 21 games.
The 23-year-old outfielder hit a team-best 37 homers last season and could help a Miami offense that ranks near the bottom of the major leagues in home runs (31), RBIs (174) and batting average (.229).
Teammate Placido Polanco, however, left in the sixth inning Monday with lower back stiffness. It's uncertain whether he'll be in the lineup.
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