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Padres-Brewers Preview

Aug 21, 2010 - 5:40 AM By JEFF MEZYDLO STATS Senior Writer

San Diego (73-47) at Milwaukee (57-64), 7:10 p.m. EDT

Kevin Correia has been one of the San Diego Padres' top pitchers since the All-Star break.

The NL West-leading Padres hope Correia's success continues as they try to bounce back from their second loss in almost two weeks Saturday night against the Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park.

Correia (10-7, 4.63 ERA) became the fourth Padres pitcher to win 10 games after allowing five hits in six scoreless innings of a 9-5 win over the Chicago Cubs on Monday.

The right-hander is 5-1 with a 3.00 ERA since the All-Star break, and has posted a 2.00 ERA while winning his last three starts.

"I feel like I came back from the All-Star break with a better mental state. Attacking the second half and really going out there fighting," Correia said. "Once I got my fastball command back it's kind of when I started pitching well."

He is 2-2 with a 4.73 ERA in five starts versus Milwaukee (58-64), which snapped San Diego's five-game winning streak with a 10-6 win Friday. It was a much better effort for the Brewers, who managed two runs while losing three of four at San Diego earlier this season.

"They've got an unbelievable bullpen. Their starting pitching is very good as well," said Milwaukee's Casey McGehee, who hit a three-run homer and had four RBIs in the opener of the series. "That was nice for us to be able to have that kind of offensive game."

The Padres, who own a five-game lead over San Francisco in the West, lost for the second time in 12 games after giving up 15 hits. Though San Diego has a major-league best 3.24 ERA and posted a 1.98 ERA in its previous 11 games, it allowed its most runs since a 10-8 loss to Colorado on July 9.

"You look at that middle of the lineup, geez, that's formidable. It really is," Padres manager Bud Black said of the Brewers, who have won three in a row and five of seven.

McGehee is 22 for 52 with five homers and 17 RBIs in his last 13 games. He is 2 for 6 with a double against Correia.

Chris Narveson (9-7, 5.61) takes the ball for the Brewers after allowing four runs in five innings of a 5-4, 10-inning victory at Colorado on Saturday.

With 120 1-3 innings pitched, Brewers coaches are expected to start monitoring Narveson's innings. He threw a career-high 120 1-3 last season when he started 20 games. Milwaukee coaches do not let pitchers exceed a 20 percent increase in innings from the previous season.

The left-hander will make his first career appearance against the Padres on Saturday.

Adrian Gonzalez hit his 24th homer and drove in two runs Friday for San Diego. The first baseman, who has homered in two of his last three games, is batting .386 with 10 RBIs in his last 14. He is a lifetime .368 hitter against Milwaukee.

The Padres are 22-6 against the NL Central.