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Brewers-Diamondbacks Preview

May 8, 2010 - 6:23 AM By SANTOSH VENKATARAMAN STATS Senior Writer

Milwaukee (13-16) at Arizona (14-16), 8:10 p.m. EDT

Randy Wolf loves pitching at Chase Field.

The Milwaukee starter will try to win his seventh straight road outing against Arizona on Saturday night when the Brewers continue a three-game set with the Diamondbacks.

Wolf (2-2, 3.86 ERA) is 6-0 with a 3.07 ERA in his last six starts at Chase Field for his longest winning streak in any ballpark. He was victorious twice there last season with the Dodgers, and allowed three runs with 10 strikeouts over 7 2-3 innings while falling a triple short of the cycle at the plate in a 9-3 victory in his last visit there Aug. 16.

The left-hander, however, had a poor outing Sunday in an 8-0 loss at San Diego, surrendering four runs over five innings, and matching a career high with six walks.

"Unfortunately, these things happen during the course of the year," Wolf told the Brewers' official website. "It's frustrating for all of us when we're not doing things well."

Arizona slugger Mark Reynolds is 2 for 19 with a homer and eight strikeouts against Wolf.

The Diamondbacks (14-16) hope to fare better against Wolf than on Friday, when they managed four hits against Yovani Gallardo and three relievers in a 3-2 loss. Gallardo struck out 10 in five innings and the bullpen worked four scoreless frames.

Reynolds, Adam LaRoche and Chris Young - hitters 3 through 5 in Arizona's lineup - went 0 for 10 with two walks. Reynolds is homerless in six straight games for his longest drought of the season for the Diamondbacks, who lead the NL with 164 runs and 42 homers.

Milwaukee (13-16) improved to 16-6 against Arizona over the last four seasons. Rickie Weeks hit his fifth homer and Jim Edmonds ended an 0-for-11 drought with his second.

Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun combined to go 2 for 7. The duo had 11 hits and eight RBIs as Milwaukee took two of three from Los Angeles in the previous series.

The Brewers will get their first look at Cesar Valdez (1-0, 1.80), who will make his second career start after allowing one run over five innings in a 9-1 win at Houston on Monday. Valdez was called up from Triple-A Reno earlier in the day to take the spot of Kris Benson, who is on the disabled list with a strained right shoulder.

The right-hander needed almost 60 pitches to get through two innings before finishing with 96.

"It feels so exciting, my first big league start," Valdez said. "The first two innings, I (felt) a little nervous, but after that I (felt) good. Your first time you feel so nervous, just nervous."

Valdez went 1-1 with a 3.80 ERA in four starts with Reno this season, striking out 25 in 23 2-3 innings. He was named the organization's minor league pitcher of the year in 2008.

Brewers center fielder Carlos Gomez missed his second straight game Friday with a strained left rotator cuff. Manager Ken Macha said Gomez is day to day.