George C | x9Lab

When a Milwaukee Brewers runner reaches first tonight, it will be interesting how they look to move runners. Griffin Jax has allowed 12 stolen bases and caught 4. Liam Hicks has thrown out 16% of 69 attempts, against a league rate of 23%. David Hamilton is 30 for 37 on the bases this year. Jackson Chourio is 23 for 28. How early does Milwaukee test Hicks' arm?

Scout Report World Series Game 4 | #Brewers @ #Rays Dustin May vs Griffin Jax The Brewers could make History tonight. First World Series, First Team to Sweep the LCS and WS in the 7 Game LSC format, First team to win 9 Straight in the PostSeason. Is tonight the night? 8:00pm ET | Tropicana Field Lineups (confirmed) Tampa Bay brings Jonathan Aranda back at first and Liam Hicks behind the plate, with Richie Palacios at second and Taylor Walls at short. Yandy Díaz leads off again. Milwaukee returns to its Game 2 nine with William Contreras catching, Yelich at DH and David Hamilton at third. Bauers, Yelich, Turang, Frelick, Mitchell and Hamilton all hit left-handed. Brewers on the mound Dustin May starts for the first time since the NLDS. He made 31 starts in the regular season with a 4.70 ERA over 145.2 innings and 144 strikeouts, but his last six regular-season outings never went past six innings and four of them ended before the fourth. In October he has 8 innings across four games, mostly in relief, and he threw 12 pitches in a clean inning in Game 2. He has changed how he gets outs in october so far. The cutter and sinker are now 68.9% of his pitches, up from 43.7%, and the sinker is up to 97.8 mph from 96.6. Right-handed hitters have hit 58.8% of their balls in play on the ground against him this month. The sweeper is the swing-and-miss pitch: 44.4% whiffs in October, 27.2% in the season. Expect a short leash with a rested bullpen behind him, depending on the Game situation dont be surprised if a Starter comes in a high leverage situation. Rays on the mound Jax is a reliever turned starter. He made 23 of his 34 appearances as a starter, with a 3.53 ERA over 112.1 innings, 116 strikeouts and 35 walks. He usually goes four or five innings. His six October innings came in two outings of 32 and 67 pitches, with 3 runs allowed in Cleveland on 15 October. He pitches to the hitter's side of the plate. Against righties it's sweeper (39.0%) and sinker (33.7%). Against lefties the changeup leads at 29.5%, with a 39.7% whiff rate overall. In October he has thrown it 29.3% of the time. The four-seamer sits 95.9 and the sinker 95.3. Jax's ground balls and the Tampa Bay infield Jax gets ground balls on 47.1% of balls in play, and his changeup to lefties is the reason. Milwaukee's lefties will hit plenty of it on the ground, so the question is whether the infield turns those into outs. Tonight's Rays infield is Caminero (-12 outs above average), Palacios (-8), Walls (-3) and Aranda (+3). That adds up to -20. Milwaukee's infield behind May, which rests on Brice Turang's +17 at second, totals +2. Last night Milwaukee did its damage with singles and doubles. If the left-handed hitters keep the ball on the ground through the right side, Palacios at second is the defender to watch. Bullpens Tampa Bay used five relievers last night. Cole Sulser threw 32 pitches, Steven Matz 17, Tyler Wells 16, Cam Booser 12 and Garrett Cleavinger 11. Booser has also pitched in Games 2 and 3, and Matz in all three games. Kevin Kelly (32 in Game 2) and Ian Seymour (34 in Game 2) are on two days' rest and are the likeliest to cover the middle innings after Jax, with Cleavinger and Wells after them. Milwaukee only needed Antonio Senzatela (26) and Brandon Woodruff (18) last night, so the back of the bullpen is fresh. Abner Uribe and Aaron Ashby have had two days off since 26 and 28 pitches in Game 2. JoJo Romero (16), DL Hall (11) and Trevor Megill (20 in Game 1) are also available. #WorldSeries #Brewers #RaysUp

HERE’S GAME 4! ⚾

Scout Report World Series Game 3 | #Brewers @ #Rays Robert Gasser vs Freddy Peralta Freddy Peralta's four-seamer has found a new gear in october it was 94.3 mph this season now 96.9 across four October outings. Tonight he gets the ball against the team he made 162 starts for, with the Rays down 0-2. 8:00pm ET | Tropicana Field How they got here Milwaukee has won both games by a run, 3-2 and 5-4. Tampa Bay put four on the board in the first inning of Game 2 on Simpson and Caminero singles and a Liam Hicks homer, then didn't score again. That's eight straight scoreless innings, six of them against the Brewers' bullpen. The Rays are 3 for 20 with runners in scoring position in the Series, the Brewers 5 for 23. Milwaukee also ran all over Game 2 with five steals, four of them with Nick Fortes catching. Fortes starts tonight. Lineups Tampa Bay goes right-handed heavy against the lefty. Ryan Vilade plays first for Jonathan Aranda, who is 4 for 7 in the Series. Ben Williamson plays second, and Fortes catches for Hicks. That's six righties plus the switch-hitting Walls. Yandy Díaz still leads off at 0 for 9. Milwaukee sends out the Game 2 nine in the same order, six of them left-handed. Brewers on the mound Gasser hasn't pitched since five scoreless innings against the Dodgers on 14 October, so he's on 12 days' rest. His October so far has been 9 innings, one run, six strikeouts and two walks. He has also become a different pitcher. In the regular season the sinker was 22.5% of his pitches at 92.7 mph. In two October starts it's 51.6% at 93.9. The regular season was a 3.87 ERA over 109.1 innings with 103 strikeouts, and a wide platoon gap: lefties hit .251 wOBA against him, righties .339. The sweeper is his best weapon at 80.4 mph and a 25.2% whiff rate, and he uses it against both sides, 28.2% of his pitches to lefties and 24.0% to righties. The sinker is the one righties hurt, a .403 xwOBA on contact. Rays on the mound Peralta's year turned at the trade. With the Mets: a 4.99 ERA over 113.2 innings. Since joining Tampa Bay: 10 starts, a 3.25 ERA and a 1.01 WHIP. In October: 16.2 innings, a 1.08 ERA, 12 strikeouts and seven walks across three starts and one relief outing, and he works on seven days' rest after 5.1 innings at Cleveland on 19 October. The October mix has been 67.1% four-seamers and 25.6% changeups, with the curveball mostly put away. That changeup is the pitch for this lineup to look at getting on: 26.7% of his pitches to lefties this season, a 29.5% whiff rate, and 36.4% whiffs in October. Key Matchup: Gasser vs Junior Caminero, 1-1 Caminero is the reason Tampa Bay stacked righties. He has a .916 OPS and eight homers in 195 plate appearances against lefties this season, and he does his damage on hard stuff. Against left-handed sinkers he has a .468 xwOBA on contact and a 41.5% hard-hit rate. At 1-1 counts, Gasser throws a four-seamer or sinker to righties 50.8% of the time. You would expect him to throw the sweeper below the knees. Right-handed hitters miss on 44.4% of their swings at his sweepers down there, and Caminero chases about a third of the low breaking balls lefties throw him and misses on 36.4% of those swings. Win 1-1 with the sweeper and it's 1-2 with the whole plate to expand. Leave a sinker in the zone and he swings at half of the 1-1 pitches he sees from lefties. Bullpens Sunday's travel day gives every reliever one day off, but the top arms have worked both games. Abner Uribe threw 15 and 26 pitches, and Aaron Ashby 20 and 28, finishing Game 2 for the save. Ashby has opened this postseason with 15.2 scoreless innings, one out from tying Andrew Miller's 16 in 2016. Romero (16), May (12) and Hall (11) each threw an inning on Saturday, and Megill (20) last pitched in Game 1. For Tampa Bay, Kevin Kelly has thrown 44 pitches across the two games, Steven Matz 39 and Ian Seymour 34 in Game 2 alone. Cam Booser (13), Tyler Wells (8), Garrett Cleavinger (10) and Cole Sulser (4) are the fresher arms. #WorldSeries #Brewers #RaysUp