Joey

Ortiz

Hamilton collected three stolen bases in a pair of games during Milwaukee’s season-opening series against the White Sox. He gets the nod at shortstop with Joey Ortiz getting the night off in this one. The 28-year-old utility infielder stole 55 bases in 189 games for the Red Sox over the past two seasons and could be a sneaky steals source in deeper mixed leagues, especially if the Brewers are going to hand him a semi-regular role.

Ortiz singled in the fifth inning and raced around to score on an RBI double off the bat of Brice Turang. He also singled in the seventh and was driven in by William Contreras. The 27-year-old is off to a hot start this spring, hitting .429 (6-for-14) with a pair of RBI and two stolen bases. He’ll need to keep it up to maintain the starting gig at shortstop with top prospect Jett Williams on his heels.

Williams was just acquired from the Mets as part of the Freddy Peralta trade last week. The 22-year-old also has experience at second base and center field and is “pretty comfortable at all three positions now,” but he’ll begin his Brewers career playing shortstop. That means that current starting shortstop Joey Ortiz, who was also acquired for a pending free agent starting pitcher, is on notice. Williams hit .262/.363/.465 with 17 homers and 34 steals between Double- and Triple-A last year and could push for MLB at-bats if he gets off to a strong start in Triple-A.

Brewers manager Pat Murphy is going to shake things up when they face Dodgers ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto after his club was limited to just one run on two hits by Dodgers starter Blake Snell in Monday’s series opener. Bauers came off the bench to deliver a ground-rule double in the ninth inning against high-leverage reliever Roki Sasaki and will draw his second start of the postseason in this one. Here’s the full lineup: Jackson Chourio (RF), Brice Turang (2B), William Contreras (C), Christian Yelich (DH), Andrew Vaughn (1B), Sal Frelick (CF), Caleb Durbin (3B), Bauers (LF) and Joey Ortiz (SS).

Chourio gets the nod in the leadoff spot over veteran Christian Yelich as Milwaukee’s top-of-the-order table-setter to face Dodgers lefty ace Blake Snell to kick off the extended best-of-seven series at American Family Field. The 21-year-old franchise cornerstone told reporters his right hamstring is feeling close to full strength again after aggravating the issue during last week’s NLDS opener against the Cubs. Here’s the full lineup: Chourio (RF), Christian Yelich (DH), William Contreras (C), Brice Turang (2B), Andrew Vaughn (1B), Sal Frelick (CF), Caleb Durbin (3B), Isaac Collins (LF) and Joey Ortiz (SS).

Chourio remains in Milwaukee’s lineup for Thursday night’s potential series-clinching contest at Wrigley Field despite battling a lingering right hamstring issue that hasn’t adversely impacted his availability throughout the best-of-five series. Blake Perkins is back in center field over Brandon Lockridge with Andrew Vaughn at first base over Jake Bauers to face Cubs veteran lefty Matthew Boyd: Here’s the full lineup: Christian Yelich (DH), Chourio (LF), William Contreras (C), Brice Turang (2B), Vaughn (1B), Caleb Durbin (3B), Sal Frelick (RF), Perkins (CF) and Joey Ortiz (SS).

Contreras is good to go after missing a handful of games at the conclusion of the regular season with a lingering left hand issue. The other notable development for Milwaukee is manager Pat Murphy sticking with lefties Brice Turang and Christian Yelich near the top of the order with southpaw Matthew Boyd taking the ball for Chicago in this one. Here’s the full lineup: Jackson Chourio (LF), Turang (2B), Contreras (C), Yelich (DH), Andrew Vaughn (1B), Sal Frelick (RF), Caleb Durbin (3B), Blake Perkins (CF) and Joey Ortiz (SS).

Ortiz opened the scoring in the ballgame with an RBI single off of Miles Mikolas in the second inning that plated Jake Bauers. He also singled with two outs in the sixth inning but was left stranded there. This season has been a struggle offensively for the 27-year-old infielder, as he’s slashing just .229/.277/.313 with seven homers, 45 RBI and 13 stolen bases in 486 plate appearances.

Ortiz landed on the injured list on August 22 with a left hamstring strain. He has made nice progress over the past week though and is ready to return on the first day that he’s eligible to do so without requiring a minor league rehab stint. The 27-year-old infielder has hit .233/.284/.328 with seven homers, 43 RBI and 11 swipes in 434 plate appearances with the Brewers this season.

Ortiz will be eligible to return on Sept. 1 and hopes to be ready then or very shortly thereafter. Andruw Monasterio is currently filling in at shortstop.