41 Marco Estrada, SP

Brewers starter Marco Estrada had a shaky outing but managed to escape with a no-decision Saturday night against the Cardinals.

Estrada allowed two runs in the fourth and sixth innings. He was charged with four runs and seven hits over 5 2/3 innings. He walked four and struck out two in a 6-4 extra-inning victory.

Estrada is scheduled to start Friday at home against the Pirates. He allowed a run in seven innings in his previous meeting against Pittsburgh May 13.

The goal was to give Marco Estrada more time to figure out what went wrong in his previous two starts. The Brewers right-hander came out of his extra bullpen session during his seven-day layoff saying he felt "a million times better," and on Monday, he backed it up.

His overall numbers are still uninspiring because of those two shaky starts, but he now has five quality starts in eight, only once issuing more than two walks in a game.

I don't know about you, but I still feel good about Estrada. He had a blip that he's confident he was able to correct, and his performance gives me no reason to doubt him. With his strikeout-to-walk ratio, he gets the benefit of whatever doubt I may have anyway. For me, he's back to being a more-weeks-than-not type in Fantasy.

Brewers starter Marco Estrada picked up his first win since April 19 on Monday night against the Pirates. He allowed one run on three hits over seven innings of work in a 5-1 victory.

The right-hander retired the first seven batters he faced before Clint Barmes singled in the third. Then in the seventh, he surrendered a leadoff double and the runner came around to score on a groundout.

Estrada, who threw 101 pitches, also struck out five and walked one while earning his third win.

His next start is scheduled for Saturday against the Cardinals. In two starts against St. Louis this season, he has gone 0-1 with a 10.61 ERA.

Brewers starting pitcher Marco Estrada expressed newfound confidence Saturday, and he credits the extra time off the team gave him after his most recent start. Estrada admitted to MLB.com that he was feeling lost after allowing eight runs in three-plus innings last Sunday, but the extra time off has helped clear his head.

"I feel a million times better," Estrada said. "I know those things are going to happen, but I didn't like how the mental aspect of it was lost. Normally, I feel like I have pretty good control over that. I didn't have it that day, but I've worked on it. Mentally, right now, I’m pretty strong."

Estrada had an extra bullpen session this weekend, but said he has not really changed his between-starts routine otherwise.

"I didn't really change anything except I threw two bullpens in between," Estrada said. "Mentally, I feel like I've prepared really well. I'm feeling pretty good right now. We worked on a couple of things in the 'pen, and today we’re going to do a couple more things that should help me out with balance and whatnot."

Estrada will start Monday against the Pirates, and will try to turn things around after posting a 6.05 ERA in his first seven starts. 

The Brewers have pushed Marco Estrada's next start back a day to Monday, MLB.com reports.

Estrada has a 3.3 K/BB but has allowed a league-high 11 home runs, resulting in a 6.05 ERA. The Brewers will reinsert fifth starter Hiram Burgos into the rotation; he could have been skipped due to an off-day Thursday. 

Estrada avoids the Reds and is instead scheduled to face Pittsburgh at PNC Park Monday.