St. Louis @ Milwaukee preview
American Family Field
Last Meeting ( Sep 7, 2010 ) St. Louis 2, Milwaukee 4
The Milwaukee Brewers made sure the St. Louis Cardinals squandered an opportunity to gain ground in the National League Central race Tuesday night.
They'll be perfectly happy to play the role of spoiler again tonight, when the Brewers go for their first series win at home against the Cardinals in more than two years.
Milwaukee evened the series at a game apiece with a 4-2 win Tuesday, leveling the season series at seven games each in the process. The only silver lining for St. Louis is the fact it didn't lose any ground on Cincinnati, which remains six games ahead of the Cardinals in the division after a 4-3 loss at Colorado on Tuesday.
With only 26 games left, the Cardinals need to chip away at that lead quickly, and they hope 24-year-old left-hander Jaime Garcia can help tonight.
Garcia (13-6, 2.35 ERA) has won his last three starts and four of his last five, maintaining a course that has him destined to contend for the NL's Rookie of the Year award. He has allowed only two earned runs in 27 innings over his last four outings.
The Brewers have seen how dominant Garcia can be. He is 2-1 with a 1.08 ERA in four starts against them, including an outing at Miller Park in the first week of the season in which he allowed one run over six innings to earn the win in a 7-1 victory.
Garcia's success against the Brewers can be traced to his strong track record against sluggers Ryan Braun (2-for-13) and Prince Fielder (3-for-13), but Corey Hart (4-for-11) and Casey McGehee (3-for-10, 1 HR) have had good luck against him.
McGehee was the hero of Tuesday's victory, driving in three runs including the go-ahead runs with a two-run single in the fifth. Hart hit a pair of home runs in the series opener, which St. Louis won 8-6.
In search of their first series win against the Cardinals at Miller Park since May 2008, the Brewers turn to 32-year-old left-hander Chris Capuano.
After spending most of the season in the bullpen, Capuano (2-3, 4.62 ERA) is scheduled to make his third start since replacing Manny Parra in the rotation.
The first two have met mixed results - he was shelled for six runs in three innings Aug. 28 against Pittsburgh but didn't factor in the decision, and he held the Phillies to one run over five innings but took the loss in a 1-0 defeat Friday in Philadelphia.
Capuano is 4-5 with a 5.59 ERA in 13 career appearances (12 starts) against the Cardinals. He has lost his last four decisions against them and hasn't beaten them since 2005. He has faced them only once this season, tossing a scoreless inning of relief in a 12-5 win July 3 in St. Louis.
Albert Pujols has given Capuano the most problems - the three-time MVP is 15-for-27 (.556) with three homers and 10 RBIs against him. Matt Holliday (8-for-20), Felipe Lopez (6-for-13, 1 HR) and Randy Winn (5-for-11) also have had success against Capuano.