Pittsburgh @ Milwaukee preview

Last Meeting ( Aug 24, 2011 ) Milwaukee 0, Pittsburgh 2

THE STORY: The Milwaukee Brewers haven’t taken their foot off the gas pedal as they head down the stretch toward the playoffs. After all, the Brewers still need victories to secure home-field advantage in the first round of the National League postseason. On Monday, they'll host the Pittsburgh Pirates in the opener of a three-game series to wrap up the regular season. Milwaukee, which is 36-3 at Miller Park against Pittsburgh over the past five seasons, will start Shaun Marcum against the Pirates. Pittsburgh has won just 17 of its last 56 games.

TV: 7:05 p.m. FSWI, ROOT

PITCHING MATCHUP: Pirates RH Charlie Morton (10-10, 3.67 ERA) vs. Brewers RH Shaun Marcum (13-7, 3.21 ERA)

Morton snapped a personal four-game losing streak in his last start when he pitched six surprising shutout innings in a 5-3 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks. Morton hadn’t won since Aug. 8 when he helped shut out the Giants, 5-0. Morton started the season superbly but, like the Pirates, ran out of gas. He is 0-4 lifetime against the Brewers with a 6.20 ERA.

Marcum went through quite a nice stretch without much to show for it recently. He made six straight quality starts but went just 2-2 in the span. Finally, after losing two straight decisions, Marcum bounced back to shut down the Cubs on five hits over eight innings in his last outing. Marcum is 1-1 in his career against Pittsburgh, but allowed just three runs in 20 innings.

ABOUT THE PIRATES (71-88): Pittsburgh dropped a 5-4 decision to the Cincinnati Reds in its home finale on Sunday. The Pirates trailed 5-3 entering the ninth inning and scored once on a double by Neil Walker, but Francisco Cordero got the next two batters to close out the contest. “The finish today, we were one run short and that’s the way it’s been more often than not the last 50 games,” Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle said. Pittsburgh already has won 14 more times than it had last season.

ABOUT THE BREWERS (94-65): Milwaukee is an outrageous league-best 55-23 at home, topping the 1978 club’s 54-27 mark at County Stadium. The success at home is clearly why the Brewers want to host the first round of the playoffs. Ryan Braun has led the charge for Milwaukee. The MVP candidate homered in Sunday’s 9-5 win over the Florida Marlins to cap a season sweep. Milwaukee went 7-0 against the Marlins and Braun took over the National League lead in batting before leaving in the fifth inning. Braun has been a one-man wrecking crew lately, homering on Firday and driving in two runs as the Brewers rallied for a win on Sunday.

FINAL PITCH: Braun went 2-for-3 on Sunday to raise his average to .333, which is two points ahead of Jose Reyes of the New York Mets. No Brewer has ever won the batting title.