Milwaukee Brewers were down in the dumps heading into Friday’s game against Cincinnati Reds. They lost five straight baseball games and found themselves in third place with the possibility of heading to fourth with a loss to Cincinnati. That did in fact happen as Brewers looked like they were headed to another blowout down 10-2 before the offense came to life and nearly completed the comeback. Offense would finish the weekend with 13 runs for a grand total of 23. Before this series, Milwaukee scored only 25 runs in 10 games. Can this hot streak for the offense stick around or is it just the Reds woeful pitching?

Brewers offense gets a new look with the acquisition of Neil Walker from New York Mets. Even though Jonathan Villar and Eric Sogard showed some promise over the weekend, they have been a problem all second half, therefore, Walker should add something to a formerly potent offense. They also will be getting Stephen Vogt back this week which is huge for when Manny Pina needs days off and a valued bat off the bench. There are signs that this team may have fixed themselves, yet it’s hard to get too excited after how bad Reds have been with their pitching staff.

One thing that isn’t a fraud is Ryan Braun. He’s red hot. Braun is hitting nearly .500 over the last eight games, and when he’s rolling like that, not many teams can stop him. It’s the right time for Braun to go on one of his patented hot streaks where he can’t get out for two weeks. He’s spraying the ball all over the field with a couple home runs worked in there. The Brewers left fielder is nearly at .300 after being at .264 at the start of the month. Braun is in another zone, and he will look to take advantage of Pirates pitching when Brewers get started again on Tuesday night.

Milwaukee’s struggles against Pittsburgh has been well documented, and the hope is they can turn it around in this two-game series. God knows they owe Pirates. It will not be easy with Ivan Nova and Gerrit Cole going for the road team.

Charlie.