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The Milwaukee Brewers will look to bounce back behind resurrected right-hander Joe Ross when they host the San Diego Padres on Monday in the opener of a short three-game homestand.
Ross (1-0, 1.80 ERA), who missed most of the last two seasons after a second Tommy John surgery, makes his third start for Milwaukee. Right-hander Joe Musgrove (1-2, 6.87), who gave up one hit over eight innings the last time he faced the Brewers, gets the nod for the Padres.
Milwaukee lost 6-4 at Baltimore on Sunday in a matchup against its former ace, Corbin Burnes, when the bullpen let a 4-3 lead slip away in the final two innings. But the Brewers still finished the road trip 4-2 and, at 10-4 overall, have the best record in the National League.
San Diego rallied from a 3-1 deficit for a 6-3 road victory over the Dodgers on Sunday night. Manny Machado homered for the Padres, Jurickson Profar drove in three runs, and Jackson Merrill had three hits.
The Brewers entered Sunday leading the majors with a .395 average (49-for-124) with runners in scoring position. Milwaukee was just 2-for-17 with runners in scoring position in Sunday’s loss, however.
“We’ve been hitting with runners in scoring position as good as you could ever ask for 10 or 12 games, and today we didn’t,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “That’s part of it. Still a lot of young guys that are doing it for the first time, so this is kind of a good reality check for them.”
William Contreras, who was behind the plate for many of Burnes’ starts in Milwaukee, had a first-inning homer off his former battery mate. Over his last 10 games, Contreras is hitting .415 (17-for-41) with four homers and 13 RBIs.
Ross allowed three runs (two earned) on five hits in 6 1/3 innings in his last start, a 9-5 victory at Cincinnati last Tuesday. It was his first major league win since June 2021 when he was with Washington.
Ross is 2-1 with a 4.00 ERA in five career outings, including three starts, against San Diego, the team that drafted him in the first round in 2011.
With outfielder Christian Yelich bothered by a sore back, the Brewers recalled outfielder Joey Wiemer from Triple-A Nashville and optioned infielder Andruw Monasterio.
Musgrove was charged with four runs on five hits in four innings in his most recent start, a 5-1 loss to the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday. He allowed a leadoff homer in the fifth then left three batters later with the bases loaded. Reliever Stephen Kolek then surrendered a grand slam to the first batter he faced.
“My stuff felt really good,” Musgrove told The San Diego Union-Tribune afterward. “I mean all the way up until the end really. The walk really hurts and the hit batter hurts, but other than those two I feel like I threw the ball well. Stuff felt good and sharp. But you know, the walks put me in a position where I’m up around 90 pitches and the first four guys reach base to start that inning. It’s like, I get the move.”
Musgrove is 1-3 with a 4.04 ERA in eight career starts vs. Milwaukee. His lone victory was in his most recent start against the Brewers, when he pitched 7 2/3 no-hit innings and made it through eight innings of a 7-0 win in 2022.
–Field Level Media