The Los Angeles Angels are betting on MLB favorites (-120) – as well as winners of the all-time most redundant name in sports history – versus the Milwaukee Brewers (+110) tonight. The visiting Angels will hope to prevent their fourth defeat in five games on the arm of Nick Tropeano – who hopes to keep filling a void in the Los Angeles Angels’ rotation – as Junior Guerra looks forward to giving the Brewers their second home win in a row in this series after going almost two decades without one. Monday’s 8-5 series-opening victory for Milwaukee broke a four-game skid in this series and eight-game drought at home versus Los Angeles going back to 1997.
After a combined 13 runs in four consecutive overall losses, the Brewers scored a season-record of 18 hits on Sunday over Miami before snapping their interleague skid versus the Angels with 14 more. It was the Angels’ eighth loss in their last 11 away games. Ryan Braun is 6 for 8 with three RBIs over the last two games, increasing his average to .372. Milwaukee hit three homers and four doubles Sunday and followed up with three doubles the next night. The Brewers, who have yet to win three in a row, will face one of Los Angeles’ sort-of-secret-weapon.
Tropeano has been a more than competent replacement in the rotation for Andrew Heaney, who is out with a flexor muscle strain and will not be back until mid-June. Tropeano hasn’t reached the sixth inning in any of his four starts, but he’s given up five runs. The right-handed pitcher surrendered a two-run home run in the first inning Wednesday versus Kansas City, the first against him, but nothing more through 5 1/3 while not receiving a decision in a 4-2 win. Los Angeles’ starting rotation looked stable through 18 games, recording a 3.16 ERA while opponents hit .234. Nevertheless, it has a 7.34 ERA with a .364 batting average against in the last eight.
Jered Weaver allowed 11 hits and seven runs in five innings on Monday. A fifth-inning error by Rafael Ortega led to four runs that escalated into four more in the sixth. Brewers’ starters are last in baseball in ERA, batting average against and strikeouts. Milwaukee has a league-low six quality starts and just two in the last 15 games. Guerra was promoted from Triple-A Colorado Springs and will get a shot in the rotation after the demotion of Taylor Jungmann – the franchise’s top pitching prospect but who never found his stride, giving split-fingered fastball specialist Guerra an opportunity to show baseball betting fans why he was the first player new general manager David Stearns acquired.