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Reds-Brewers Preview

Aug 26, 2009 - 6:25 AM By ANTHONY GIORNALISTA STATS Senior Writer

Cincinnati (53-71) at Milwaukee (61-64), 8:05 p.m. EDT

Poor pitching has led to Milwaukee's fall from playoff contention. Now the Brewers are even having trouble handling the light-hitting Cincinnati Reds.

The Brewers look to bounce back from a terrible performance against the Reds, who have a chance to win three straight for the first time in three months Wednesday night.

Milwaukee (61-64) entered the season hoping to make consecutive playoff appearances for the first time in franchise history but has posted a 5.48 ERA while going 31-44 since the start of June, taking away any real chance it had.

The Brewers had a 3.80 ERA in winning seven of their first 11 games against the Reds (53-71), but they've given up 13 runs in losing the last two. Cincinnati won the opener of this three-game set 8-6 in 13 innings Tuesday night.

Joey Votto and Laynce Nix hit solo home runs in the top of the 13th for the Reds, who are 29th in the majors in runs with 488.

Cincinnati has a combined 12 runs in its last two games after scoring two or fewer in each of its previous four. The Reds, who had 17 hits Tuesday, have a chance to win three straight for the first time since a four-game run May 24-27.

Nix has given Cincinnati a boost at the plate, batting .381 with three homers and four RBIs in his last five games. The center fielder is hitting .357 with eight RBIs over his last nine road contests.

Nix is 1 for 7 against Braden Looper (11-6, 4.95 ERA), who is set to take his turn in Milwaukee's rotation. He earned a win in his last outing, giving up two runs in six innings to beat Washington 7-3 on Friday night.

The veteran right-hander went 1-2 with a 6.59 ERA in his previous five starts.

Looper is 3-1 with a 5.40 ERA in four starts versus the Reds this season and 6-2 with a 3.34 ERA in 10 outings against them.

Cincinnati will counter with Kip Wells (0-3, 5.91). He's filling in for Aaron Harang, who had an emergency appendectomy over the weekend and is out for the year.

"The Harang thing, the appendectomy, kind of messed up things," manager Dusty Baker told the Reds' official Web site.

The right-hander is making his first start since July 21, 2008, when he gave up eight runs and seven hits while retiring one batter for Colorado in a 16-10 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Wells has surrendered three runs in six innings during two appearances since being called up from Triple-A Louisville on July 31. He's 7-8 with a 4.49 ERA in 21 starts against the Brewers.

Wells faces a Milwaukee team that has scored six runs or more in four of its last five games.

Brewers second baseman Felipe Lopez went 4 for 5 with a solo homer Tuesday but left the game in the ninth after hurting his foot while scoring.

"We're just going to come out here (Wednesday) and see how it feels," said Lopez, hitting .363 in 33 games since being acquired in a trade with Arizona on July 19.