Milwaukee @ Washington preview

Last Meeting ( Jul 5, 2016 ) Milwaukee 5, Washington 2

The Milwaukee Brewers are sitting nine games under the .500 mark but they are making life awfully hard on the National League East-leading Washington Nationals. The visiting Brewers have won four of five against Washington in the past 12 days and go for a sweep of their three-game series Wednesday afternoon.

Milwaukee arrived in Washington riding a four-game losing streak, but squeezed out a 1-0 victory in the series opener before Aaron Hill and Hernan Perez each slammed a two-run homer in Tuesday's 5-2 victory. Hill collected three hits Tuesday and is 9-for-19 with a homer and five RBIs in five games against the Nationals this season. Washington's Danny Espinosa, named the NL Player of the Week after batting .423 with five homers and 17 RBIs, went 2-for-4 on Tuesday to extend his hitting streak to four games. Catcher Wilson Ramos, among four Nationals named to the NL All-Star team, is 6-for-16 with a homer and six RBIs against Matt Garza, who will start for the Brewers against Nationals right-hander Tanner Roark.

TV: 4:05 p.m. ET, FSN Wisconsin (Milwaukee), MASN2 (Washington)

PITCHING MATCHUP: Brewers RH Matt Garza (1-1, 3.74 ERA) vs. Nationals RH Tanner Roark (7-5, 2.93)

Garza contributed to another poor outing by committing a critical error in a loss at St. Louis last time out to suffer his first loss in his fourth start of the season. He was charged with seven runs (four earned) on nine hits over 5 1/3 innings while walking three batters for the second straight outing. Garza beat the Nationals with six innings of four-run ball on June 25 to improve to 1-4 with a 7.01 ERA against them.

Roark pitched at least seven innings for the third straight start but did not factor in the decision versus Cincinnati on Friday after giving up two runs on eight hits. He dominated the Brewers in Milwaukee in his previous turn, allowing seven hits over seven scoreless frames to improve to 2-0 with a 2.42 ERA against them in four appearances (three starts). Ryan Braun is 4-for-10 with a triple and RBI versus Roark.

WALK-OFFS

1. Brewers RHP Jeremy Jeffress has converted 23 of 24 save chances.

2. Nationals RF Bryce Harper, RHP Stephen Strasburg and 2B Daniel Murphy also were All-Star selections.

3. C Jonathan Lucroy, Milwaukee's All-Star representative, has multiple hits in four of his last eight games.

PREDICTION: Nationals 5, Brewers 2