• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Brewers-Diamondbacks Preview

Sep 13, 2009 - 7:07 AM By SANTOSH VENKATARAMAN STATS Senior Writer

Milwaukee (68-73) at Arizona (62-81), 4:10 p.m. EDT

The Arizona Diamondbacks never saw much of Casey McGehee before this series. They probably hope they'd never see him again.

McGehee looks to complete a torrid series for the Milwaukee Brewers on Sunday when they try to cap their first three-game road sweep of the Diamondbacks in more than nine years.

Milwaukee (68-73) has used McGehee's hot bat to cruise so far in this series. The third baseman had three hits in a 6-3 win on Friday and added two homers among four hits and tallied a career-high six RBIs Saturday in a 9-2 victory.

He's hitting .306 with 15 homers and leads all rookies with 57 RBIs in his first full season in the majors after a nine-game stint with the Chicago Cubs last year.

"It worked out all right," McGehee told the Brewers' official Web site. "I tried to get good balls to hit, and to hit them hard."

Those two games were McGehee's first starts against Arizona (62-81). He struck out as a pinch-hitter in a 4-1 loss May 2 in his only previous appearance against the Diamondbacks.

Slugger Ryan Braun has also had a strong series, going 4 for 9 with a homer and four RBIs to help the Brewers improve to 4-2 against the Diamondbacks this season.

Milwaukee's last sweep at Chase Field was Aug. 21-23, 2000.

Losers of eight of nine overall, the Diamondbacks have received poor starting pitching in this series. Former Brewer Doug Davis gave up five runs over three innings Friday and Kevin Mulvey yielded six in four-plus frames Saturday.

Max Scherzer (9-9, 4.15 ERA) will try to give Arizona's beleaguered bullpen a break after he missed a chance to win a third straight outing in his last game. The right-hander surrendered four runs and six hits over seven innings Monday in a 7-2 loss to the Dodgers.

"I think he's entering stages of the year and stages of his career where he's never been before, innings-wise, the length of the season," manager A.J. Hinch told the Diamondbacks' official Web site.

Scherzer has started once in his career against Milwaukee, pitching six scoreless innings April 30 in a 4-1 loss.

The Brewers have scratched Manny Parra and will give Chris Narveson (1-0, 4.82) his second career start. Parra was forced from Tuesday's 4-3 loss to St. Louis with neck spasms after the top of the first inning.

Narveson has made 16 appearances out of the bullpen since his contract was purchased from Triple-A Nashville on June 14. His lone appearance against Arizona came in his big-league debut Sept. 8, 2006 while with St. Louis and he gave up two runs over two innings in a 13-1 loss.

"Any time you get to go out there - start or relieve - is a great opportunity to show what I can do and help the team win," Narveson said.

The left-hander's lone career start was on Sept. 22, 2006 at Houston, and he allowed two runs and two hits over four innings and did not get a decision in a 6-5 loss.