This story was originally published by Dead Spin
Both long overdue for wins, Aaron Civale of the Milwaukee Brewers and DJ Herz of the host Washington Nationals take the mound on Saturday afternoon, looking for a change of fortune in the second game of the three-game series.
Civale (2-7, 4.92 ERA) has not won in his past 18 starts, including his first four with Milwaukee since he was acquired from the Tampa Bay Rays on July 3.
Herz (1-4, 4.79 ERA) has gone six straight starts without a win.
Both showed promise in their most recent outings.
Civale gave up two runs and seven hits in 5 1/3 innings against the Miami Marlins on July 27. He turned the game over to the bullpen with a 3-2 lead before the Marlins scored five runs in the seventh and went on to win 7-3.
“I thought Civale did a really nice job navigating,” Milwaukee manager Patrick Murphy said of the right-hander’s performance.
Civale made his only career start against the Nationals on June 29 and allowed two runs and six hits in 5 2/3 innings, taking the loss in the 8-1 defeat.
Herz pitched well in three of his four starts in July but never found a win. For the month, the left-hander went 0-2 with a 4.05 ERA across 20 innings.
In his only victory this season, Herz threw six one-hit, shutout innings with 13 strikeouts and no walks in a 4-0 victory against the Marlins on June 15.
“I’m getting ahead. I’m attacking. I’m being efficient,” Herz said. “That’s all the things I want to see for myself, and that’s their main goals for me.”
The 23-year-old rookie allowed two runs and three hits in five innings in his most recent game, a no-decision against the host St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday.
“(Herz) didn’t rely on his off-speed stuff,” Washington manager Dave Martinez said. “He got ahead and stayed with the fastball, which was good. Our (scouting) reports were to try to get the ball up on some of these guys, and he did a great job, especially those lefties. … He was very, very effective.”
Herz also noticed that his fastball had extra zip to it.
“I could feel it out of the hand. I could see it,” he said. “I told (catcher Riley Adams), and then we kind of rode with it. Pretty much majority fastball, and when we needed to flip in an off-speed or a changeup, we did.”
Herz has yet to face the Brewers in his career.
Blake Perkins delivered a pinch-hit, two-run single for the Brewers as they won 8-3 in the series opener on Friday night.
Perkins is 5-for-9 as a pinch hitter in his career, 3-for-5 this year.
“You can’t really think too much,” Perkins said of pinch-hitting. “It’s a situation where you don’t know if you’re going to come in or if you’re going to be still on the bench, so you just kind of make the most of it.
“It’s kind of a win-win, you know. You come in and try to do your job and if it doesn’t work out, it’s all good. It’s a tough thing to do, and I just try to keep it simple.”
–Field Level Media
