The combination of a fade on Shelby Miller, off his near no-hitter, and backing under-the-radar Mike Fiers puts me on the underdog Brewers.




Fiers has had only one bad outing during his past five starts. Milwaukee is 3-2 in Fiers' past five starts. Fiers has allowed two earned runs or fewer in four of his past five starts with a 28-to-6 strikeout-to-walk ratio during those four games. On the season, Fiers has 52 strikeouts in 41 2/3 innings.




The Braves have the disadvantage of never having faced Fiers.




Miller is a good young pitcher. He came without one out of a no-hitter during his last start, a 6-0 victory against the Marlins this past Sunday.




A letdown is in order for Miller - and so is his luck. He has a brilliant 1.33 ERA, but has been extremely lucky with a left on base percentage of 88.8 percent, currently the third-highest strand rate in the majors. His strikeout per nine inning ratio is down from his career average of 7.5. So he's due for a slide.




The Brewers have been a major disappointment so far. But they still have power ranking in the top 10 in homers while hitting 16 more home runs this season than Atlanta.