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Brewers continue homestand against Cubs

Apr 8, 2011 - 3:23 PM (Sports Network) - Lefty Randy Wolf tries to erase the bad taste of a poor first outing tonight when the Milwaukee Brewers host the Chicago Cubs in the first game of three this weekend at Miller Park.

Wolf, a second-round pick of the Philadelphia Phillies in 1997, was tagged for 10 hits and six runs over just four innings in his first mound trip of 2011 while dropping a 12-3 decision to the Cincinnati Reds on Sunday.

It was a reversal of fortune from Wolf's initial season with the Brewers in 2010, when he won 13 games for the first time since 2003 and posted a respectable 4.17 earned run average in 215 2/3 innings of work.

The 34-year-old Californian faces the Cubs for the 20th time in a big-league career that began when he won six games in 22 appearances for the Phillies in 1999 and earned double-digit wins for four straight seasons between 2000 and 2003.

He's 5-9 in the previous 19 starts against Chicago, including two complete games and a 4.47 ERA with 96 strikeouts in 110 2/3 innings.

He'll be opposed by fiery Venezuelan righty Carlos Zambrano, who allowed five hits and three runs in six innings of a no-decision in start No. 1 on April 2 against Pittsburgh - a game the Cubs won, 5-3.

Zambrano is 12-8 with a hold in 31 lifetime outings against Milwaukee, including 28 starts. He's allowed only 147 hits while striking out 177 batters in 179 2/3 innings.

The 29-year-old is trying to prolong the success he regained last year while winning 11 times and posting a 3.33 ERA in 129 2/3 innings split between starting and relieving.

His best statistical year came in 2007, when he won 18 games in 34 starts over 216 1/3 innings for the Cubs.

On Wednesday in Chicago, Chris Young finished 2-for-5 with two RBI and two runs scored as Arizona topped the Cubs, 6-4, in the finale of a three-game series at Wrigley Field.

Aramis Ramirez slugged a two-run shot and Alfonso Soriano added a solo homer for the Cubs, who had a two-game win streak stopped.

Ryan Dempster (0-2) was dented in defeat for 10 hits and five runs - four earned - in seven frames.

On Thursday in Milwaukee, Nyjer Morgan scored the go-ahead run on a collision at the plate in the second inning, and the Brewers held on for a 4-2 victory over Atlanta in the finale of a four-game series.

The Brewers captured the final three games of the series on the heels of an 0-4 start to the season.

Shaun Marcum (1-1) got the win, giving up two runs on five hits and two walks in six innings, striking out four.

Marcum, in his first season with the Brewers, settled down after a couple of shaky innings to start the game. He took the loss in a 4-2 decision at Cincinnati last week, where he walked five batters in just 4 2/3 innings.

Chicago was 9-6 against the Brewers last season.