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Rockies-Brewers Preview

Jun 11, 2009 - 5:41 AM By MATT BECKER STATS Senior Writer

Colorado (26-32) at Milwaukee (33-25), 2:05 p.m. EDT

Led by a suddenly overpowering pitching staff, the Colorado Rockies are enjoying their time away from Coors Field.

The Rockies look to match a franchise record with their eighth consecutive road victory and sweep the Brewers in Milwaukee for the first time Thursday in the finale of a three-game series.

Following last Wednesday's 6-4 loss at Houston, Colorado (27-32) had the NL's third-worst team ERA (4.79) and the league's second-worst record. Since then, the Rockies have won seven straight - all on the road - thanks to a pitching staff that's posted a 2.29 ERA in those games.

Colorado defeated the Brewers 4-2 on Wednesday as Jorge De La Rosa and four relievers limited the high-powered Milwaukee lineup to five hits for the second consecutive night. It was the fifth straight game Colorado allowed two runs or fewer.

Brad Hawpe hit his ninth homer for the Rockies, who are in the midst of their longest winning streak since reeling off 11 in a row in September 2007.

"The last week has been great for us. It's been needed. To do it on the road is what I think is impressive," said Hawpe, who is batting .354 (17 for 48) with three home runs and nine RBIs during a season-high 12-game hitting streak. "Everybody's come together on the road and usually the road historically has been a tough place for the Rockies to play."

Aaron Cook (4-3, 4.50 ERA) takes the ball for Colorado in the finale looking to lead the team to its eighth straight road win for the first time since April 3-26, 1997 - the franchise's longest such streak in its 17-year history.

On Saturday, Cook allowed one run - a solo homer to Rick Ankiel - and four hits in eight innings of a 10-1 win over St. Louis. The sinkerballer got 15 groundouts after yielding nine runs in 12 innings in losing his previous two outings.

Cook now looks to win back-to-back starts for the first time since winning three in a row July 20-30.

The right-hander is 4-2 with a 3.74 ERA in seven career starts against the Brewers (33-26), but hasn't faced them since a defeat in 2007.

While the Rockies are surging, the Brewers have sputtered to a 3-6 start in June despite being ahead in every game this month.

"I wouldn't look at it and say that we're necessarily struggling a whole lot, we're just not winning games right now," Brewers starter Dave Bush said. "To me, there's a difference. You can lose games badly and you can lose close games, and we're losing close games."

Milwaukee still leads the NL Central by 1 1/2 games over second-place St. Louis and is trying to avoid losing four straight games for the first time since April 11-14.

The Brewers appear to have the right man on the mound to end the skid.

Milwaukee has won seven of Yovani Gallardo's last eight starts, with the right-hander going 2-0 with a 0.42 ERA in his last three.

On Friday, Gallardo (6-2, 2.84) allowed two hits while striking out six in eight innings of a 4-0 win at Atlanta - the second time in three starts the right-hander gave up two hits in eight shutout innings.

"He's had some great outings this year, and this is another one," manager Ken Macha told the Brewers' official Web site.

While Gallardo has been red hot lately, he didn't have much luck in his only career start against the Rockies. At Coors Field on Aug. 8, 2007, Gallardo was pounded for career highs of 11 runs and 12 hits in 2 2-3 innings of a 19-4 loss.