Brewers vs. Nationals prediction and odds for Tuesday, August 1 (Brewers Adding Bats)

The NL Central is starting to slip away for the Milwaukee Brewers right now. They have lost four straight games and are now 1.5 games behind the Reds at 57-50. The Washington Nationals delivered that most recent loss 5-3 yesterday after the Nationals traded away Jeimer Candelario. Washington is in sell mode at 45-62 and could lose a few more pieces before first pitch today. 

For Game 2, the Nationals will start their All-Star and a foundational piece of their pitching staff, Josiah Gray against Freddy Peralta. Gray is 7-8 with a 3.27 ERA while Perlata is 6-8 with a 4.46 ERA. Let’s get into the odds for this one. 

Brewers vs. Nationals odds, run line and total

Brewers vs. Nationals prediction and pick

The last time the Brewers won a game, Peralta went six scoreless against the Reds with 13 strikeouts and no walks. That’s the type of performance that they might need in this one because their offense hasn’t been great lately, evident with the team adding the likes of Carlos Santana and Mark Canha already before the deadline. 

Gray also went six scoreless in his most recent outing, but I have some real concerns about Washington’s All-Star. Gray has a 4.74 FIP in large part because of his 102 strikeouts to 54 walks this year. In his six scoreless innings last time out he had four strikeouts with three walks and hit two batters. That’s a lot of free trips to first and very few tickets punched back to the dugout. I’m fading Gray the rest of this season because I expect his ERA to end up around five where his FIP is. 

With that I have to back the Brewers in this one. Their offense hasn’t been great lately, but in the past week the Brewers are 16th in team OPS which is a lot better than Washington. The Nats are 29th over that stretch and are in the process of trading away their best hitters. 

It might be close because it doesn’t feel like Milwaukee can blow any team out right now, but I’ll take the Brewers to win. 

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Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change