• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Brewers-Pirates Preview

Jul 22, 2010 - 5:10 AM By NICOLINO DIBENEDETTO STATS Writer

Milwaukee (43-52) at Pittsburgh (33-60), 7:05 p.m. EDT

Pedro Alvarez and the Pittsburgh Pirates are red hot at the plate. The Milwaukee Brewers are hoping ace Yovani Gallardo's return from injury can quell those bats.

Alvarez will try to continue his superb stretch and help the Pirates conclude this four-game series with a third consecutive victory as they face Gallardo on Thursday night.

Alvarez has been key to the Pirates (34-60) outscoring the Brewers 26-12 in winning the last two games, including Wednesday's 15-3 victory.

The rookie third baseman has five hits and eight RBIs in those victories, connecting for two homers in each. His surge is part of an eight-game stretch in which he has batted .406 with five home runs and 10 RBIs. Alvarez was hitting .197 with three homers and 10 RBIs in his first 22 contests.

"Obviously, those first few weeks, it's a million miles an hour, and as time goes on you get used to it a little bit more and more," said Alvarez, the second overall selection of the 2008 draft. "You kind of just play and not try to do too much, and that's what's going on right now."

Alvarez's sudden jolt has helped the Pirates win four of five. The team is batting .374 with six homers while averaging 9.6 runs in that span.

"It's a nice change of pace form what we had been going through," said rookie second baseman Neil Walker, who is 14 for 24 with four doubles and six RBIs in five games. "We're really hoping this will carry us through the near and distant future."

Pittsburgh is also in position to win a season-high three games in a row for a fourth time.

To do so, the Pirates will have to solve Gallardo (8-4, 2.58 ERA), who takes the mound for the first time sine straining his right oblique in the third inning of a 7-1 loss at St. Louis on July 4. The injury cost the right-hander a chance to appear in his first All-Star game last week.

Facing Pittsburgh in his return may be ideal for Gallardo as he tries to give the Brewers (43-53) a reliable starter. He's 5-1 with a 2.00 ERA and 64 strikeouts in 54 innings over nine starts against the Pirates. Gallardo beat them twice in a five-day span in April before Alvarez was called up from the minors, allowing only two unearned runs and fanning 14 in 11 innings.

That type of production would be welcome for Milwaukee, which has a 4.88 ERA from the rotation to rank among the worst in the NL. Its starters have allowed 33 runs in 20 innings in losing three of four.

Pittsburgh will counter Gallardo with Ross Ohlendorf (1-7, 4.62), who is trying to rebound from the shortest start of his career.

The right-hander was chased with one out in the second Friday after surrendering four runs and five hits before Pittsburgh eventually beat Houston 12-6. That dismal effort came after he went seven innings in each of his previous two games, winning once.

Ohlendorf has a 2.25 ERA while winning both of his home starts against the Brewers.