Christian Yelich, Brewers ride potent offense into series opener vs. Royals

After a stellar homestand, the Milwaukee Brewers will take their high-octane offense on the road for the first time this season when they face the Kansas City Royals on Friday night.

Milwaukee won five of its first six games by averaging 7.5 runs per contest. The Brewers' 45 total runs are tied with the Houston Astros for most in the majors.

Milwaukee scored a majors' third-best 806 runs last season, its most since 1999.

"We're just trying to find ways to win games," said Christian Yelich, who leads the team with seven RBIs. "It's been a good start for the guys; we give ourselves a chance to win every night. When you find yourself in a lot of games, you do what you can on offense to try and push one or two across."

Yelich is batting .381 for Milwaukee, not far from Brice Turang's club-best .409 average.

Through a week of play, the Brewers' pitching staff has done what it can to try to stay on pace with the blistering offense. Milwaukee pitchers have a 2.83 ERA across the first six games.

Right-hander Chad Patrick (0-0, 2.08 ERA) will make his second start on Friday. Patrick received a no-decision last Saturday in his team's 6-1 victory over the Chicago White Sox after allowing one run across 4 1/3 innings.

A member of Baseball America's All-Rookie team a year ago, Patrick made his lone career appearance against the Royals in his major league debut. He scattered three hits and struck out five over 4 2/3 scoreless innings in a no-decision last April.

Kansas City, meanwhile, had its three-game winning streak snapped in a 5-1 loss to the Minnesota Twins on Thursday afternoon.

As manager Matt Quatraro's Royals await their first home weekend series of the year, one of the glaring issues will be addressing end-of-game situations.

After closer Carlos Estevez (42 saves last season) allowed six earned runs, including a walk-off grand slam, against the Atlanta Braves on Saturday, the team placed the 33-year-old veteran on the 15-day injured list with a foot contusion.

Having to plug-and-play, Quatrato inserted Lucas Erceg into the closer's role, with the fourth-year right-hander making two saves. On Wednesday, though, Steven Cruz pitched the ninth inning and allowed three solo home runs.

Still, Quatraro confirmed his faith in Cruz, who had a 3.74 ERA in 47 relief appearances last season.

"We're really comfortable when we bring him into any situation," Quatraro said. "He has a lot of different ways of getting people out. We're going to continue to use him in high leverage. It could be the sixth (inning), it could be the ninth."

Starting in the series opener for the Royals will be right-hander Luinder Avila, who has not pitched this season and went 1-1 with a 1.29 ERA last year. Avila has never faced the Brewers.

--Field Level Media