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Cain had been on the disabled list with a sore groin since June 26 and was eligible to return Wednesday, but the final step of his recovery took slightly longer than expected. He went through a full workout Saturday afternoon at Miller Park and after getting through it without issue declared himself ready to go.
“I’ll be playing tomorrow,” Cain told reporters as he walked off the field after his workout.
Since signing a four-year, $80 million contract with Milwaukee in January, Cain has been a force in the batter’s box and in center field. He was slashing .291/.394/.438 with eight home runs and 26 RBIs in 72 games for the Brewers, numbers that make him a leading candidate for a spot when All-Star rosters are announced Sunday evening.
The 32-year-old has made an All-Star team once in his career — in 2015 with the Kansas City Royals, but Brewers manager Craig Counsell said the chance of Cain landing a spot on the National League roster had no bearing on his return timeline.
“The all-star game is a separate entity,” Counsell said. “He feels really comfortable right now and is doing really good. If everything turns out well today, then we’re set for tomorrow and the next day.”
Reinstating Cain will require another roster move for the Brewers. The team has managed its roster on a nearly daily basis this season, shuttling fresh arms and hot bats back and forth between Milwaukee and Triple-A Colorado Springs.
Part of it, naturally, has been based on need, but part of it is also an attempt to create the strongest roster possible on any given day.
“Our point of doing it is just to kind of optimize our roster every day, ” Counsell said. “You go into a game with kind of a forecast of the game a little bit. If you need the pitching, you have to have the pitching. But if you don’t need the pitching Josh Jackson Color Rush Jersey , you have to have the position player. You have to let the previous games dictate it for you and tell you what’s going to happen.”
Junior Guerra (5-5, 2.87 ERA) was part of that shuffle already this season. He opened the year with Colorado Springs and was brought back to Milwaukee when the need arose. The right-hander hasn’t let up since and takes the mound Sunday afternoon looking for a victory in a third consecutive start.
Guerra threw five shutout innings in a no-decision in his only appearance versus Atlanta in 2016.
The Braves counter with left-hander Sean Newcomb (8-3, 3.10), whose last outing was one he’d like to forget. Pitching through sweltering heat and humidity, Newcomb was tagged for five runs, three hits and five walks while working 2 2/3 innings at Yankee Stadium.
“I guess it was one of those days,” Newcomb said. “It was definitely a hot one. I had to go out there and deal with the elements and a good lineup. I just didn’t have my best stuff.”
Newcomb was 7-1 with a 2.07 ERA in the 11 previous starts and will be looking to revert to that form Sunday when he faces Milwaukee for the first time in his career.
Already the owner of two American League Most Valuable Player awards by age 25, Los Angeles Angels center fielder Mike Trout is showing there’s always room for improvement.
Trout is having the best offensive month of his major-league career heading into the second game of a four-game series against the visiting Toronto Blue Jays on Friday night.
The Angels (40-35) won the series opener 8-5 on Thursday night at Angel Stadium, getting two home runs from Luis Valbuena and another from Kole Calhoun for the second straight game.
Trout went 0-for-2 but drew three walks and scored two runs against the Blue Jays (34-40).
Trout is hitting .433 in June with five home runs and 12 RBIs. His on-base percentage rose to .471 for the season.
Trout’s previous best batting average for a month was .392 in July of 2012, his first full season in the majors. He also had 10 home runs and 23 RBIs during that stretch.
A big difference in Trout’s game this season has been his walk-to-strikeout ratio. He had 12 walks and 21 strikeouts in July 2012 but has 17 walks and 13 strikeouts so far this month.
“I’m just trying to look for my pitch, and if it’s not there, I’m just taking my walks,” Trout told reporters earlier this week. “For me, if I try to expand the strike zone, that’s when I get in trouble.”
Trout has also done well in his career against Toronto’s scheduled starter on Friday night Taven Bryan Color Rush Jersey , Marco Estrada. Trout is 4-for-10 with two home runs off the right-hander.
Estrada (4-6, 4.66 ERA) will try to stay on a roll after winning his past two starts. He went eight consecutive outings without earning a win before this latest stretch.
His last start may have been his best of the season. He threw 6 2/3 shutout innings in a 2-0 win on Saturday against the visiting Washington Nationals, out-dueling right-hander Max Scherzer, who leads the National League with 10 wins.
Estrada faced the visiting Angels during his winless stretch four weeks ago and surrendered four runs and seven hits in 4 1/3 innings. Toronto went on to lose 8-1.
Estrada is 1-2 in his career against the Angels with a 6.95 ERA, his highest against any AL team.
Angels first baseman Albert Pujols is 4-for-10 in his career against Estrada, and shortstop Andrelton Simmons is 6-for-12.
“For four years now, every single day, when Marco Estrada’s time comes around, he gives all he has,” Toronto second baseman Devon Travis told Sportsnet after the win against the Nationals last weekend.
Angels starter Andrew Heaney was matched against Estrada in his only career appearance against the Blue Jays and it didn’t go well for the left-hander. He gave up eight runs in 3 1/3 innings of the 15-3 loss in Anaheim on Aug. 22, 2015.
Heaney (3-5, 3.64) was in line to win his last outing after allowing three runs and three hits in eight innings against the Oakland A’s on Sunday, but the bullpen gave up two runs in the bottom of the ninth before Oakland won in the 11th.
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