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Cobb aims for perfect July when Rays host Brewers

Jul 29, 2014 - 1:39 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - Alex Cobb will try to close out a perfect month of July when he leads the Tampa Bay Rays into the middle test of a three-game series versus the Milwaukee Brewers Tuesday at Tropicana Field.

Cobb is 3-0 with a 2.59 earned run average in four July starts and is coming off a stellar performance in last Wednesday's 3-0 win at St. Louis. Cobb struck out 10 batters and issued no walks in seven shutout innings, and allowed five hits.

The right-hander is 4-0 in his past five starts dating back to June 29 and 6-6 overall with a 3.76 ERA. Cobb has never faced Milwaukee and is still searching for his first home win of the season (0-4, 7 starts).

Tampa Bay was able to climb back into the win column with Monday's 2-1 win over the Brewers, as James Loney delivered a two-run single with two out in the bottom of the sixth to put the club ahead to stay.

Mark Reynolds homered in the third to give Milwaukee a 1-0 lead, but Loney later stroked a Kyle Lohse pitch to plate a pair of base runners.

Rays starting pitcher Jake Odorizzi picked up the win with seven solid innings of work and his only mistake was the home run given up to the free-swinging Reynolds. Odorizzi struck out five and did not walk a batter.

The right-hander has won three straight starts and is 5-1 in his past six decisions.

"I don't want to say it's humbling but it really is," said Odorizzi. "After the way I started this season, to how it is now, you can see both sides of the coin, really good and really bad. You just have to pay attention to what you do when you see the good side of the coin."

Brad Boxberger threw a scoreless eighth inning and Jake McGee fanned a pair of batters in the ninth for his 12th save.

In other team news, the Rays, who have won 10 of 11 games and are 19-5 since June 28, activated reliever Joel Peralta from the 15-day disabled list and designated left-hander Erik Bedard for assignment on Monday.

Tampa Bay will also host the LA Angels for three games on this homestand.

Milwaukee has dropped two straight and three of four games since winning four in a row, and its lead atop the NL Central is 1 1/2 games over St. Louis and two in front of Pittsburgh.

Lohse pitched well in defeat and was aiming for his 12th win (11-5). The clutch hit by Loney sent Lohse to the loss column, while he struck out six batters and walked three in six innings.

Reynolds's blast was one of three hits for the Brewers, losers of three straight and seven of nine road games. Milwaukee will visit the Cardinals for three games next on this trek.

"It's tough when you're not consistently scoring runs," said Milwaukee manager Ron Roenicke. "I mean, we came up against a guy who was pitching really good, but you should be able to get more than three hits."

Former Tampa Bay hurler Matt Garza will take the ball for the Brewers Tuesday and has a 7-7 record to go along with a 3.87 ERA. Garza, who pitched for the Rays from 2008-10, ended a two-game losing streak in Thursday's 9-1 pounding of the New York Mets, as he limited the visitors to just a run and two hits across eight innings.

Garza lasted only one-third of an inning and gave up five runs in a loss at Washington on July 19. He lost his only career start against the Rays last season as a member of Texas and is 2-3 in nine road assignments this season.

The Brewers and Rays are meeting for the first time since Tampa Bay took two of three matchups back in 2011 at Miller Park.