Brewers work to overcome injuries in rematch vs. Marlins

Injuries have slowed Milwaukee's offense.

The Brewers, who will play the middle contest of this weekend's three-game series at the Miami Marlins on Saturday afternoon, are without three of their top hitters. On the injured list are first baseman Andrew Vaughn (fractured left hamate), center fielder Jackson Chourio (fractured left hand) and designated hitter Christian Yelich (groin strain).

Chourio and Yelich combined last season for 66 doubles, 50 homers and 37 steals. Vaughn was promoted from the minors on July 7 and contributed nine homers, 46 RBIs and an .869 OPS in 64 games.

"It's a different offense without those three," Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. "Without three of our top-five hitters, we're not going to be as good."

The Brewers, who beat the Marlins 7-5 in 10 innings on Friday, will start right-hander Brandon Woodruff (1-0, 4.32 ERA) on Saturday. Milwaukee won on Friday without a homer, scoring three runs after the ninth inning. Two of its runs were unearned.

Woodruff, 33, has been excellent against Miami, going 4-0 with a 2.61 ERA in six career starts. However, he has been hindered by injuries. From 2023-25, Woodruff made a total of just 23 starts. His velocity has diminished from his All-Star seasons of 2019 and 2021.

The Marlins will counter Woodruff with right-hander Sandy Alcantara (2-1, 2.67 ERA). The 2022 National League Cy Young Award winner is 2-1 with a 3.08 ERA in seven career appearances against Milwaukee, including five starts.

This season, Alcantara posted an 0.74 ERA over his first three starts. However, in his most recent outing, he took an 8-2 loss Sunday at Detroit, allowing seven runs on 10 hits in six innings.

"I tried to do my best," said Alcantara, who allowed three home runs in a battle against reigning American League Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal. "I tried to go seven innings to give us a chance to win, but it didn't happen."

As for the Marlins, it is not known if they will have third baseman Graham Pauley on Saturday. He left Friday's game due to right oblique discomfort.

The strength of Miami's offense is its middle infielders -- shortstop Otto Lopez (.983 OPS) and second baseman Xavier Edwards (.910 OPS).

On Friday, they combined for five hits, including a homer and a triple by Lopez and a double by Edwards.

"Otto has been on a good run the past 10 to 12 days," Marlins manager Clayton McCullough said. "(Edwards) controls his at-bats. The way he is impacting the baseball is encouraging."

The bad news for the Marlins is they made several mistakes in Friday's loss, including getting three runners picked off or thrown out on the bases.

In addition, the Marlins made two errors that led to a pair of unearned runs.

"We didn't help ourselves," McCullough said. "We have to do better and play cleaner from start to finish."

--Field Level Media