Pittsburgh @ Milwaukee preview
American Family Field
Last Meeting ( Aug 27, 2010 ) Pittsburgh 2, Milwaukee 7
The Milwaukee Brewers may just be playing out the string, but they’re still dangerous.
Ryan Braun and company will look to keep the offense in high gear when the Brewers face the Pittsburgh Pirates on Saturday.
Milwaukee’s offense was listless for most of the series opener on Friday before waking up in a big way in the seventh inning with six runs. Alcides Escobar got the rally started with a two-run triple and Braun capped it with a two-run double.
All-Star Corey Hart added a pair of RBIs in the 7-2 win to boost his season total to 81 - 10 shy of his career high, which was set in 2008.
Friday’s outburst was the Brewers’s biggest in a week and snapped a four-game slide.
Milwaukee ranks second in the National League in runs scored, but still sits eight games below .500 and 14 games behind the NL Central-leading Cincinnati Reds due to a pitching staff that has been a disaster all season. Even ace Yovani Gallardo has gotten knocked around over the last month, robbing the club of the one arm it had capable of shutting down opposing lineups.
The Pirates have had similar issues with their pitching staff and don’t have nearly the offense that the Brewers possess, pushing them to a familiar last place in the Central. Pittsburgh’s loss on Friday left it two games behind the Baltimore Orioles in the race to avoid the worst record in the major leagues.
The Pirates will give the ball to left-hander Zach Duke on Saturday. The 27-year-old Texas native snapped a losing streak last time out with a strong start against the New York Mets, allowing one run and five hits in seven innings to pick up the win. The seven innings marked Duke’s longest outing since May 23.
He has already faced the Brewers three times this season, including getting lit up for a total of 14 earned runs and 16 hits in back-to-back losses in April. Duke got a little revenge when he faced them on July 21, yielding two earned runs in six innings to earn a win. In 16 career starts against the division rivals, Duke owns a 4-7 record with a 6.10 ERA.
Milwaukee will counter with its own left-hander in Chris Capuano. Making his return to the rotation after a month-long stint in the bullpen, Capuano will spend the last five weeks of the season fighting for his future as he attempts to secure a spot on the 2011 team.
A former 18-game winner, Capuano missed the entire 2008 and 2009 campaigns after reconstructive elbow surgery and has been used sparingly by the Brewers this season - mostly as a long-man out of the bullpen.
One of his two previous starts this season came against the Pirates on July 19, when the 32-year-old allowed one run and three hits in five innings to earn the win.