First pitch: Thursday, 1:40 p.m. ET
Line: Los Angeles -110, Milwaukee +100, Total: 8

The Milwaukee Brewers look to take the series win over the Los Angeles Dodgers when they meet on Thursday afternoon.

It’s been a solid start to the 2015 campaign for the NL West leading Dodgers as they come into this contest with wins in six of their past nine games. They’ve put up seven or more runs four times over that stretch, but have run into a Brewers group which seems to be turning their season around quickly and have lost two of the first three games against them in this four-game set. Los Angeles has actually outscored Milwaukee 14-12 in the first three meetings, but had a mere three runs in both of the losses and are coming off a 6-3 defeat on Wednesday night. The offense had one more hit than their opponent, but went 0-for-7 with RISP as the only offense came from the bat of OF Joc Pederson (.272). The rookie hit two HRs in the losing effort and has gone deep with seven of his last eight hits over the past nine games. The Brewers had a horrid start to this season and eventually canned their head coach, hiring Craig Counsell in the wake. They’ve won 2-of-3 games to start this series with their new coach and are victorious in four of their last five outings. Power earned them the win on Wednesday as 3-of-7 hits went for extra bases with 2B Scooter Gennett (.216) and 1B Adam Lind (.323) each getting a two-run homer. Lind has been the team’s most consistent hitter and has four extra-base hits in his last four performances in which he also scored four runs. The start for the Dodgers will go to RHP Carlos Frias (2-0, 0.00 ERA) who is making just his fourth career start as he goes up against RHP Mike Fiers (1-3, 4.74 ERA) of the host Brewers. Even though Los Angeles sports a solid record, they do not do well on the road, going 4-8 as they face this Milwaukee group which is a meager 5-11 at home. This matchup has been a close one since the start of the 2013 campaign as the Brewers hold a 9-6 edge overall and are 5-4 at home in that time. Trends show that Milwaukee is a poor 23-39 (.371) in May games over the past three seasons while the Dodgers are 17-24 (.415) against NL Central opponents since the start of last year. OFs Yasiel Puig (Hamstring) and Carl Crawford (Oblique) have left the Dodgers outfield shallow as they ride the DL while the injury to C Jonathan Lucroy (Toe) is a big on for the Brewers.

Frias has made the long trip through the minors and despite never being much of an elite prospect, has matured and looked great in his limited major league service. He kicked off the season in the bullpen and pitched 2.1 solid innings before earning his first start against Arizona last week. In the game he was phenomenal with 5.1 frames of shutout ball behind just four hits and three strikeouts (1 walk). He has pitched three games (6.0 IP) out of the bullpen in his young career against the Brewers with a 7.50 ERA and two home runs allowed. One of those long balls came off the bat of OF Carlos Gomez (1-for-2) while the rest of the Milwaukee players who have faced Frias are a combined 3-for-15. The Dodgers bullpen has been on an absolute tear, going 6-5 with a 1.91 ERA (1.04 WHIP), but have saved just 6-of-9 games successfully. Chris Hatcher (7.20 ERA, 2 saves) has been the man in the ninth over the last two opportunities as both Kenley Jansen and Joel Peralta are injured and had a blown save on Monday against this Brewer group.

Fiers was a solid strikeout guy throughout his minor league career and has seen that translate to the big leagues with 9.5 K/9 over his first 55 games (40 starts). In 24.2 innings this year, Fiers has mowed down 34 batters (12.4 K/9), but has also seen his control take a hit with 3.3 BB/9 and five balls already leaving the park (1.8 HR/9). He should begin to bounce back as batters are hitting an unsustainable .409 BABIP against him and he’s coming off his best outing of the year, tallying six innings with one run allowed on three hits as he struck out 12 batters (2 walks) in a win over the Cubs. He’s pitched phenomenally against these Dodgers in two career starts with a 2-0 record, 1.20 ERA (0.60 WHIP) and 8:3 K/BB ratio over 15 innings. OF Andre Ethier (3-for-4, 1 double, 1 RBI) has seen the ball well out of Fiers hands in limited experience while C A.J. Ellis is 1-for-7 against the righty. The relievers for Milwaukee sit in the middle of baseball with their 3.50 ERA (1.24 WHIP) as they’ve gone 3-2 while getting the save in all six chances. Francisco Rodriguez (1.64 ERA, 6 saves) is the man closing out all of the games and has not allowed a run in his last six outings as he sports a 14:2 K/BB ratio over 11 frames.