Brewers' Anderson returns to start against Diamondbacks (May 20, 2018)
MILWAUKEE -- Chase Anderson will come off the disabled list and return to the mound Monday night when the Milwaukee Brewers open a 10-game homestand with the first of three against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Miller Park.
Anderson went on the shelf May 12 when he was scratched from a scheduled start at Colorado with flu-like symptoms.
He was having an up-and-down season until that point. Anderson threw six shutout innings in the season opener but followed by allowing four in four innings against the St. Louis Cardinals.
Opponents scored more than three runs in his next four outings. Anderson finished April with a 2.86 ERA, but he allowed nine in 10 2/3 innings in his two starts before landing on the DL.
After allowing only 14 home runs in a 141 1/3 innings during a breakout 2017 season, Anderson has given up 10 this year in 45 1/3 innings, with eight of those at Miller Park.
"When you don't hit your spots and you're pitching in a place like this, the ball is going to tend to fly out of the park," Anderson said. "I don't really look at that. I try to stay positive in everything I do."
Anderson will be going up against the team that selected him in the ninth round of the 2009 draft, developed him and gave him his first taste of the big leagues in 2014.
He spent two seasons with Arizona, going 15-13 with a 4.18 ERA in 48 starts before Milwaukee acquired him ahead of the 2016 season in exchange for Jean Segura and Tyler Wagner.
And in a strange twist of irony, Milwaukee originally acquired Segura when it dealt away Arizona's scheduled starter, Zack Greinke.
The right-hander pitched Milwaukee to the NL Central title and NL Championship Series in 2011 but was moved to the Los Angeles Angels at the deadline a year later and eventually moved on to the Los Angeles Dodgers before signing with Arizona ahead of the 2016 season.
Greinke has a 3.46 ERA through his first nine starts this season and will be facing the Brewers for the second consecutive outing.
He held Milwaukee to a run and four hits in six innings last week in a 2-1 Arizona victory at Chase Field but took no-decision for the third consecutive game.
"They had some of the best at-bats I've seen this year," Greinke said afterward. "It wasn't easy, but it worked out."
That victory snapped a six-game losing streak for the Diamondbacks, but they dropped the series finale to the Brewers and were swept during the weekend by the New York Mets. Arizona arrives in Milwaukee having dropped 13 of 18 games this month.
"It was a tough series," Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said after his team fell 4-1 on Sunday at Citi Field. "We're struggling, no doubt about it. But this group is staying together. They are accountable and just pressing on. So we have one thing to do: Get ready for Milwaukee tomorrow."
