Two teams.
One with a proverbial chip on their shoulder after being swept in front of the home crowd.
The other out for revenge after being annihilated in their last meeting.
Who will prevail?
Join us after the jump for more details.
Yovani Gallardo (1-2, 4.30 ERA) will lead the Brewers into battle today hoping to keep alive their 21 game home winnings streak against Pittsburgh. YoGa faced these same Pirates in his last start, limiting them to only 3 hits while striking out 10, however he only lasted 5 innings. Overall, Gallardo is 4-2 with a 2.66 ERA in 9 games (8 starts) against the Bucs. Only Andy LaRoche has faced Gallardo more than 10 times (13, to be exact) and is hitting a mere .231 off him, but with two homers.
The Pirates will send Zach Duke (2-1, 4.13 ERA) to the mound tonight. In his last start, he did not fare very well against our Brewers, allowing 6 earned runs in 5 innings, including 3 home runs. Duke certainly does not like to face the Brewers, as he has a not-so-sparkly 5.73 ERA and zero wins against in 14 starts against. Four Brewers have faced Duke more than 10 times:
Player | PA | Slash line |
Braun | 13 | .417/.462/.917 |
Fielder | 33 | .310/.394/.586 |
Hart | 22 | .278/.409/.500 |
Weeks | 33 | .241/.333/.448 |
Lineup:
Weeks 2B
Gomez CF
Braun LF
Fielder 1B
McGehee 3B
Hart RF
Zaun C
Escobar SS
Gallardo RHP
The Brewers are going to need Gallardo to be a little more efficient tonight, as the bullpen is a little short.
Claudio Vargas pitched 1.1 innings (15 pitches) yesterday and .2 innings Friday.
Todd Coffey pitched 1 inning (14 pitches) yesterday and .2 innings Saturday.
LaTroy Hawkins pitched 1 inning (23 pitches) yesterday and 1 inning Friday.
Carlos Villanueva pitched 1 inning (14 pitches) yesterday.
Trevor Hofman pitched 1 inning (18 pitches) yesterday.
Manny Parra pitched 2 innings (35 pitches) Firday.
Jeff Suppan pitched on Friday, but we don't want him pitching anyway.
Go Brewers!