Brewers search contemporary begin vs. Nationals after mediocre month

The Milwaukee Brewers hope a flip of the calendar will help turn their fortunes when they open a three-game series at the Washington Nationals on Friday night.

The Brewers went 11-13 in July and began August with an assortment of injuries, none more jarring than the recurring back issue that flared up with outfielder Christian Yelich.

Heading into the month, Milwaukee still held a five-game lead in the National League Central.

“I think we’re a young team that’s going through it,” Milwaukee manager Pat Murphy said after a 6-2 loss to the visiting Atlanta Braves on Wednesday. “You could call it tired, you could call it whatever you want to call it from the outside. ‘Well, they’re not winning as many games.’

“There’s so many factors. You have to kind of reach down and kind of reassess where you are personally and how you can get back to that.”

They’ll have to get back to their winning ways without Yelich, as well as relievers Rob Zastryzny, Bryan Hudson and Trevor Megill, who are also on the injured list.

The loss of Yelich, the 2018 NL MVP, has put additional pressure on the younger position players, particularly infielders Brice Turang and Joey Ortiz and outfielders Sal Frelick, Garrett Mitchell and Jackson Chourio.

Yelich said the youngsters don’t need to change their approach to the game just because they’re in a playoff race.

“You still have to play the games and play well,” he said. “The biggest thing is, don’t change just because we’re about to be in August and you’re going to look up and still be in first place when nobody thought in March that we would be there. You go from being expected to finish last in the division to being in first, so keep being the guys who were expected to finish last. Play with that freedom and give it hell.”

Milwaukee acquired veteran right-hander Frankie Montas from the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday and he’ll start the series opener.

Montas (4-8, 5.01 ERA) also struggled in July, going 1-2 in four starts with a 7.71 ERA for the Reds.

He faced the Nationals on July 19 and gave up seven runs and six hits in 4 2/3 innings.

Montas has faced Washington four times in his career, making two starts, and is 1-1 with a 9.00 ERA in those games.

He didn’t make it out of the fifth inning in his most recent start, surrendering four runs and 10 hits in 4 1/3 innings of a 9-4 win against the Braves.

Right-hander Jake Irvin will start for the Nationals on Friday.

Irvin (8-8, 3.44) has been solid in his past two starts after experiencing back-to-back poor outings, including a loss to the Brewers on July 14.

The second-year right-hander gave up seven runs (six earned) and nine hits over four innings in the 9-3 loss in Milwaukee, but Irvin bounced back to limit his past two opponents to a total of four runs over 12 1/3 innings.

He beat the St. Louis Cardinals his last time out, allowing two runs and four hits over 5 1/3 innings of the 14-3 win.

The Nationals have lost four in a row after getting swept in a three-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Sandwiched around a 17-0 loss on Tuesday were a pair of one-run losses.

Washington All-Star shortstop CJ Abrams said the Nationals need to do a better job of bringing a game plan into the batter’s box.

“You’ve got to attack the pitcher, 9 versus 1,” he said. “We’ve got to get back to that.”

–Field Level Media