Milwaukee @ Colorado preview
Coors Field
Last Meeting ( Jun 20, 2010 ) Milwaukee 6, Colorado 1
Casey McGehee knew he was hitting the ball well, he just didn’t realize how long it had been since he recorded an out.
The Milwaukee Brewers second baseman has hit safely in his last nine at-bats after his 4-for-4 performance in Thursday’s 8-4 win over Arizona, but admitted that he wasn’t counting the base knocks.
His recent tear set the franchise mark, besting Ryan Braun’s streak of eight. His sights are now set on the major league record of 12 consecutive hits, a feat shared by Pinky Higgins in 1938 and Walt Dropo 1952.
McGehee will go for the record on Friday when the Brewers head to Colorado to open a three-game set with the Rockies, who have won 11 of 13 against Milwaukee at Coors Field.
The Brewers didn’t enjoy their time in Arizona, dropping the first three games of the series before McGehee helped stop the skid.
The Rockies, meanwhile, have had some troubles of their own in trading wins and losses on their recent seven-game road trip to remain 8.5 back of San Diego in the race for the National League West crown.
The offense was a large culprit in Colorado dropping two of three against the New York Mets as they were shut out in both defeats, including Thursday’s 4-0 loss in which Johan Santana tossed a four-hit shutout.
Things don’t figure to get much easier this go-around as the Rockies are pitted against Brewers starter Yovani Gallardo (11-5, 2.86 ERA), who owns an NL-best 10.1 strikeouts per nine innings rate.
Gallardo will be eying his third straight win and first career victory against the Rockies. The right-hander has allowed five combined runs and 10 hits while striking out 19 batters over his last 12 innings.
Gallardo faced Colorado on June 19, taking a no-decision after surrendering a run on four hits with seven strikeouts over six innings. In five career appearances - four starts, he is 0-3 and owns a 6.04 ERA.
He’ll need to figure out a way to solve Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, who is batting .485 with five RBIs in his past eight games.
Scheduled to take the ball for Colorado is Jorge De La Rosa (4-3, 5.01 ERA), who gave up three runs on five hits in 5 1/3 innings in his last outing. He owns just one win in six appearances overall.
Brewers slugger Ryan Braun has feasted when facing De La Rosa with six hits in seven at-bats, including a home run and a pair of doubles.