Ryan Braun

Brewers hope to score early, end Cardinals' Miller Park dominance

Published Aug. 7, 2015 2:30 p.m. ET

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The Milwaukee Brewers have the worst home record (23-34) in the National League. On Friday, they begin a three-game series at Miller Park against the St. Louis Cardinals, who have the second-best away record (29-23) in the league.

That would be reason enough to worry even before you factor in the Cardinals' recent road dominance over the Brewers. Dating back to 2013, St. Louis has won seven straight series in Milwaukee, which is tied for its longest road streak in franchise history.

Here's a look at the opponents against whom the Cardinals' have won the most consecutive road series all-time:

It doesn't help the Brewers that two of their best batters, Ryan Braun and Jonathan Lucroy, have each had their struggles at the plate, against the Cardinals (Braun) and at home (Lucroy).

Braun has a team-high 19 home runs this season, tied for 11th-most in the National League. He has 249 for his career, which is No. 2 in franchise history.

But Braun hasn't homered against St. Louis since April 14, 2013, a stretch of 116 official at-bats. That represents, by far, the longest power drought Braun has experienced against any team in his career.

Here's a look at the most consecutive at-bats without a home run Braun has had against opponents in his career:

For Lucroy, it's been a problem with the home cooking. Batting .249, he hasn't hit as well as expected throughout the season, but the struggles are most pronounced at Miller Park. Lucroy's negative home-road batting split is one of the largest in Brewers history.

Here's a look at the largest differences in batting average between home and road among Brewers all-time (minimum 250 plate appearances):

So are there any reasons for Milwaukee fans to be optimistic and come out to Miller Park for the St. Louis series? Sure. Beer, brats and even a couple on-field motives.

The Cardinals' offense has been getting on base less and scoring fewer runs a game each month since the beginning of the season. They're still fifth in the league in on-base percentage (.322) and ninth in runs scored per game (3.95), but those numbers have been dwindling and are especially low in August.

Here's a look at the Cardinals' offense by month this season:

But Brewers fans shouldn't just come out to Miller Park, they should make sure they get there early -- or, at least, on time.

Milwaukee has been prolific in the first inning since mid-June, the highest-scoring opening-frame offense in the majors. 

Here's a look at the most runs scored in the first inning among all major-league teams, since June 19:

Other notes:

- The Brewers, who have had at least 11 hits in each of their last three games (all wins), have gone an MLB-best 15-1 since June 22 when getting double-digit hits.

- Since 2013, Cardinals pitcher Jaime Garcia has allowed a total of just nine runs over his last eight road starts (1.52 ERA over stretch).

- Matt Carpenter has hit .357 (41/115) with a .713 slugging percentage in 28 games in the leadoff spot this season, compared to just .223 (58/260) with a .350 slugging percentage in 74 games in other spots in the lineup.

Statistics courtesy STATS Inc. and baseball-reference.com.

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Ryan Braun

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