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Brewers-Braves Preview

Jun 5, 2009 - 4:48 AM By ANTHONY GIORNALISTA STATS Senior Writer

Milwaukee (31-22) at Atlanta (26-26), 7:35 p.m. EDT

Nate McLouth's success against the Milwaukee Brewers in recent years didn't lead to much success for his old team. Perhaps a new supporting cast will give him a better chance to contribute to some wins.

After a rainout, McLouth finally makes his Atlanta Braves debut Friday night in the opener of a three-game series with a Brewers team he's highly familiar with from his days in the NL Central.

McLouth, an All-Star and Gold Glove winner in 2008, had some bittersweet feelings after being acquired by Atlanta (26-26) in a trade with Pittsburgh on Wednesday, but is eager to be with a club that is trying to challenge for the NL East lead.

"The people are going to be hard to leave, but I lost a lot of games there and that's hard to do as an athlete," he said. "When you talk about winning, the Atlanta Braves are one of the top organizations."

McLouth was in the lineup Thursday as the No. 3 hitter and starting in center field, but the Braves' matchup with the Chicago Cubs was postponed by rain.

Instead, his next at-bat will be against NL Central-leading Milwaukee (31-23), a team he lost 10 straight against while with the Pirates. He's batting .343 in his last 17 games against Milwaukee, but Pittsburgh fell in 14 of those contests.

Now that McLouth has moved from the NL Central's fifth-place team to the third-place team in the East, he should have a better chance of finding success against the Brewers.

McLouth set career highs last year with a .276 average, 26 homers and 94 RBIs. While Braves outfielders have only 10 homers in 52 games, McLouth has connected nine times and has driven in 34 runs.

He's 4 for 14 (.286) against Yovani Gallardo (5-2, 3.18 ERA), who will take the mound Friday for Milwaukee. Gallardo has given up two runs or fewer in three of his last four starts.

The right-hander allowed two runs - one earned - and seven hits while striking out nine in 5 1-3 innings to earn the win in a 5-2 victory over Cincinnati on Sunday.

Gallardo didn't receive a decision in his only outing against the Braves, yielding two runs and three hits in seven innings of a 4-3, 11-inning win for the Brewers in September 2007.

Milwaukee looks to get back on track after it lost three of four to Florida, including a 4-3 defeat Thursday. Prince Fielder had three hits and drove in all three runs, two coming in on his 13th homer.

"You always hope it's enough to give your team a lift to score more," Fielder told Milwaukee's official Web site.

The first baseman is batting .407 (11 for 27) with three homers and nine RBIs in his last seven games.

Fielder and Milwaukee have never faced Jair Jurrjens (5-2, 2.59), who will match up with Gallardo. Jurrjens has led Atlanta's rotation this year, but will be trying to rebound from his worst outing of the season.

Jurrjens allowed a season-high five runs and eight hits in five innings in Friday's 10-6 win at Arizona. The right-hander had yielded two runs or fewer in each of his previous eight starts, going 2-2 with a 1.98 ERA.

Though they posted a 2.82 ERA, the Braves lost six of nine games against the Brewers last year, hitting .225 and averaging 2.7 runs.