Brewers' Hiura keeping up with Yelich in second half

Christian Yelich has a little competition in the Milwaukee Brewers' clubhouse this month: Keston Hiura.

The rookie returned to the lineup June 28 and has been on a tear since the All-Star break.

He's 14-for-23 at the plate since the break, and is tied with Boston Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts for the major-league lead in hits over that span.

Hiura is hitting .400/.474/.780 this month. His 1.254 OPS since July 1 is fifth in the National League, just behind Yelich.

The Brewers will go up against another rookie Thursday when the Brewers visit the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Right-hander Merrill Kelly, who made his MLB debut as a 30-year-old earlier this season, is tied for third amongst rookies with nine quality starts. He has a 3.93 ERA and a 1.273 WHIP through 19 starts.

The Diamondbacks have a few hot hitters of their own.

Center fielder and second baseman Ketel Marte is hitting a major-league-leading .341 since May 1, while shortstop Nick Ahmed has reached base safely in 17 consecutive games, tied for the third-longest active streak in the majors.

The Brewers are riding a four-game winning streak against the Diamondbacks heading into their first meeting of 2019.

Milwaukee had a 1.70 ERA in six games against Arizona last season. Brewers starter Zach Davies will look to keep that trend going.

Davies allowed just two hits in his last start, a win over the San Francisco Giants, and hasn't allowed an earned run since the first inning of a game against the Pittsburgh Pirates on June 30.

He's up to 16 consecutive innings without an earned run, tied for the longest active streak amongst MLB starters.

Statistics via Sportradar