Florida @ Milwaukee preview

Last Meeting ( Sep 23, 2010 ) Florida 3, Milwaukee 8

The Milwaukee Brewers’ bats have suddenly come alive after being silent for five games.

The Brewers look to tee off on Andrew Miller as they continue a four-game series with the Florida Marlins on Friday night at Miller Park.

After scoring just 15 runs in five games, Milwaukee caught fire in its last two, combining for 23 runs and 34 hits in a 13-1 victory over the Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday and an 8-3 thumping of the Marlins in the series opener here Thursday.

Casey McGehee tallied six hits and four RBI in the two contests, and his 99 RBI as a third baseman is tied with Ryan Braun for the most in franchise history at the hot corner. Corey Hart went deep in each game to reach the 30-homer plateau for the first time in his career and drove in five runs to come within four RBI of reaching 100. Rickie Weeks had five hits in the two games and went back-to-back with Prince Fielder on Thursday.

McGehee, Hart and Braun (93) are closing in on becoming the first Milwaukee trio to reach triple digits in RBI since 1982 when four players reached the milestone and “Harvey’s Wallbangers” became the last Brewers club to reach the World Series.

Milwaukee will send former first-round pick Mark Rogers (0-0, 0.00 ERA) to the mound Friday for his first career start. Rogers pitched a scoreless inning on September 10 against the Chicago Cubs and another frame five days later at Houston.

The fifth-overall pick in the 2004 draft, Rogers missed all of 2007 and 2008 because of right shoulder surgeries. He was 4-17 with a 4.18 ERA in the minors in 265 innings heading into 2010.

Rogers will be opposed by Miller, another former first-rounder. Considered one of the best pitching prospects in the game shortly after being selected sixth overall by the Detroit Tigers in 2006, Miller was a key cog in the Miguel Cabrera deal in 2007.

However, Miller has struggled to find his way. In parts of three seasons with Florida, the 6-foot-7 lefty is 10-18 with a 5.76 ERA over 213 innings.

After going 2-9 with a 5.35 ERA for two clubs in the minors this season, Miller was recalled in August and he has made seven appearances and five starts. He beat Atlanta 6-1 on Sept. 3, allowing a run and seven hits in five frames, but the 25-year-old has been lit up since. In his past three starts, Miller has been tagged for 19 runs in 10 1/3 innings.

Miller was tagged for five runs and three hits and walked four in 1 1/3 innings in a 13-3 defeat to the Cubs on Sunday. In 25 1/3 major league innings this season, Miller has yielded 39 hits and walked 20.

Florida’s Logan Morrison walked in the seventh on Thursday to extend his streak of reaching base safely to 42 straight games. That tied New York Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira for the longest streak this season and four off the club record set by Luis Castillo in 2006.

Florida is 76-76 this season and a strong finish will allow it to post a third consecutive winning season for the second time in franchise history.

The Marlins lead the season series three games to two.