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Brewers-Marlins Preview

Jun 2, 2010 - 3:53 AM By MIKE LIPKA STATS Writer

Milwaukee (21-30) at Florida (26-26), 7:10 p.m. EDT

Poor pitching has been the primary cause of another three-game losing streak for the Milwaukee Brewers, but Yovani Gallardo certainly hasn't deserved any blame.

The Brewers will have Gallardo on the mound looking to build on his first career shutout as they try to snap their skid Wednesday night against the host Florida Marlins.

Milwaukee (21-31), which dropped nine straight May 10-19, hopes it is not headed toward another lengthy slide after giving up 29 runs while losing its last three. For the season, the Brewers' staff ranks 29th in the majors with a 5.38 ERA.

The Marlins (27-26) had seven extra-base hits in Monday's 13-5 win, then got three from Chris Coghlan alone in Tuesday's 6-4 victory. Florida broke a 3-all tie with three runs in the seventh inning off struggling Brewers reliever Trevor Hoffman, dropping Milwaukee to 1-8 in Miami since the start of 2008.

The 42-year-old Hoffman, the all-time leader with 596 saves, had already lost his job as closer and is now 1-4 with an 11.65 ERA.

"I've been on the other end of it for a while, too, so you have got to continue to try to be aggressive and the wind will turn," Hoffman said.

Florida figures to have a tougher time scoring against Gallardo, who has gone a career-high nine straight starts without a loss and produced a brilliant outing Friday night against the New York Mets.

Gallardo (5-2, 2.78 ERA) struck out seven and scattered eight hits and a season-low one walk, getting help from two double plays and stranding six other Mets to improve to 5-0 with a 1.80 ERA in his last eight outings.

"I got into some trouble, but you've got to keep going, give that little extra whatever you've got in the tank to get out of those things," Gallardo said.

In order to notch his second career complete game and first shutout, he needed Corey Hart's two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth to break a scoreless tie.

"You want to win it for him," Hart said. "We haven't really gotten a lot of runs for him, so it's nice to be able to come through and get the win for him."

Hart has remained hot, homering in each of the first two games of this four-game series. He has 11 homers and 23 RBIs in his last 17 games.

Milwaukee didn't score any runs the only previous time Gallardo faced Florida. Gallardo pitched seven scoreless innings in the Brewers' 3-0, 10-inning defeat April 25, 2008.

He'll be opposed by Chris Volstad, who has lost his last four starts despite not allowing more than four runs in any of them. He had two other four-start skids in 2009, but has never dropped five in a row.

Volstad (3-6, 4.31) gave up three runs in 6 1-3 innings of a 3-2 loss to Philadelphia on Friday night.

The Marlins have won three straight on the heels of a four-game losing streak. A fourth consecutive win would match their season high.

Coghlan - the 2009 NL rookie of the year - is 6 for 10 with four runs scored and three RBIs in this series, raising his average to .237 following a difficult start.

"He's swinging the bat," Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez said. "Even when he makes outs, they're hard. We're seeing the on-base percentage going up."