Who's on first? For Brewers, they're all productive
No matter who the Milwaukee Brewers put on first base, they're bashing the ball.
Eric Thames, as usual, had a great April, but is on the disabled list. No worries, though, as Jesus Aguilar and Ryan Braun have more than picked up the slack both in Thames' absence and against left-handers when Thames was healthy.
Taking away his six appearances as a pinch hitter, Thames is hitting .254/.353/.661 with seven home runs. Aguilar, who has appeared at third base and 12 times as a pinch hitter, is scorching the ball at a .400/.429/.600 rate when he plays first base. Braun has played eight games at first base and owns a .417 slugging percentage in those games (he's at .397 as an outfielder).
Combined, the trio are hitting .301 with a .594 slugging percentage and .962 OPS. They've hit 10 home runs and driven in 30.
Milwaukee's first basemen rank in the top five in each of those categories in MLB at that position, leading in slugging percentage, second in OPS and homers, third in RBI and fourth in batting average. In the National League, the Brewers lead in slugging and OPS and are second in average, HR and RBI.
Other notes:
-- Cleveland tied Houston for the best road record in MLB in 2017 (53-28). This year, the Indians are 6-9 away from home.
-- Lorenzo Cain has a .427 on-base percentage in Brewers wins and .316 in losses.
-- Cleveland starting pitcher Corey Kluber has seven straight quality starts and has won the last five of those games. Kluber and Washington's Max Scherzer are the only pitchers this season to earn wins in five consecutive starts.
-- In addition, Kluber has made 19 consecutive starts allowing three or fewer earned runs.
-- Cleveland is 16-0 when leading after the end of the sixth inning. Milwaukee is 14-0.
-- The Brewers have a 3.20 ERA in interleague play since 2017, the third-best mark in MLB over that span.
Statistics courtesy STATS and baseball-reference
