LEADING OFF: Brewers streaking, Scherzer skid, d’Arnaud deal

A look at what’s happening around the majors Saturday:

SOMETHING BREWIN’

Zach Davies (4-0, 1.56 ERA) starts for the Brewers as they go for their eighth straight win. Ryan Braun homered as Milwaukee won the series opener 7-0 at Wrigley Field on Friday, pulling into a virtual tie with the Cubs for the NL Central lead. Chicago starter Cole Hamels (3-0, 3.38 ERA) is coming off three consecutive no-decisions.

MAXED OUT

The Nationals have lost the last five games that ace Max Scherzer has started. The three-time Cy Young Award winner is 1-4 with a 3.78 ERA overall this year. The most consecutive team losses in Scherzer starts is six, starting in 2009 when he played for Arizona and ending in 2010 when he pitched for Detroit.

Scherzer next starts at Dodger Stadium against Walker Buehler (4-0, 4.95).

SAVE SOME FOR ME

One night after busting loose for their biggest first inning in 30 years (eight runs), the Mets look to give Jacob deGrom (2-4, 3.60 ERA) some offensive support as well for a change.

The reigning NL Cy Young Award winner has lost four straight decisions, and New York hasn’t scored in either of his last two games. It’s a pattern that persisted last year, when deGrom went 10-9 despite a big league-low 1.70 ERA. This time, he takes on Sandy Alcantara (1-3, 4.93) and the major league-worst Marlins at Citi Field.

GIANT PAINS

The Reds will try again to tee off against Giants right-hander Jeff Samardzija. Eugenio Suarez, Jesse Winker and Derek Dietrich tagged Samardzija for three homers on three pitches in the first inning Sunday, though Samardzija settled to throw five innings of four-run ball and San Francisco rallied to win 6-5. The Reds have scored six or more runs just six times this season, and three of those came during a four-game split with San Francisco last week.

BIG BEEF

Yankees left-hander CC Sabathia faces the Rays for the first time since being ejected for plunking Jesús Sucre during a game last September. Sabathia was tossed two innings short of meeting a $500,000 performance bonus in his final start of the season, though New York later gave him the bonus anyway.

Sucre is no longer with the Rays, but Sabathia’s gripe was with the entire team — he stood and yelled into Tampa Bay’s dugout after the ejection, upset that Andrew Kittredge had thrown a pitch near the head of Yankees catcher Austin Romine.

MOVING MAN

Catcher Travis d’Arnaud joins his third big league team this month after being traded from the Los Angeles Dodgers to Tampa Bay. The Rays got him for $100,000 — the AL East leaders have catchers Mike Zunino and Michael Perez on the injured list.

D’Arnaud was traded a week after the Dodgers signed him following his release by the New York Mets. The 30-year-old d’Arnaud was 0 for 1 in one game for the Dodgers after going 2 for 23 in 10 games for the Mets.