Reds (26-20) v. Brewers (27-20)

The Brewers will finish up this short homestand with a 3 game weekend series against the Reds.  We all know that the Brewers are struggling right now and could really use a positive series to get back on track.  The Reds sit just a 1/2 game behind the Brewers in the standings, so that makes this weekend series even more important.  Johnny Cueto will go in game one for the Reds.  Ever since he made his MLB debut last year, Cueto has impressed me the most out of all the young promising pitchers the Reds have.  So far this year, Cueto is 4-2 with a 2.37 ERA in 9 starts.  In 6 of those 9 starts, Cueto has given up 2 or fewer runs.  He has also been very impressive against the Crew in his career.  He is 1-0 with a 2.79 ERA and a 0.93 WHIP in 3 career starts against the Crew.  That’s pretty good.  Braden Looper will try to get a W for the Crew.  After a great start, Looper has been fairly inconsistent his last five outings.  He is 2-3, but has got away with a few because of the Brewers putting up a lot of runs.  In his last 5 starts, Looper has a 6.04 ERA.  He has watched his overall ERA rise form 2.45 after 4 starts, to 4.47 currently.  We really need him to get back on track.  All this said and I still haven’t talked about how bad the offense has been.  Lets just leave it that way.  Go Brewers!!