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Brewers hope to get Narveson on track against Cards

May 8, 2011 - 2:49 PM (Sports Network) - After Milwaukee's ace got on track in Saturday's meeting, the Brewers hope that Chris Narveson can find his early-season from and pitch his club to its third straight series victory over the St. Louis Cardinals in today's finale of a three-game set at Busch Stadium.

Milwaukee's Yovani Gallardo came into yesterday's start with an 8.89 earned run average over his past 26 1/3 innings, but carried a no-hitter into the eighth inning and ended up allowing just one hit over eight frames in a 4-0 victory. John Axford finished off the shutout with a 1-2-3 ninth inning just one day after the Brewers' losing streak reached a season-high seven straight in a 6-0 loss to the Cardinals in which Milwaukee managed just two hits.

Gallardo struck out six and walked four in winning his third game of the season.

"That's the guy I saw during spring training and the guy we saw in the first two games this year," Milwaukee manager Ron Roenicke said.

Casey McGehee had three hits and drove in a run for the Brewers, who have now won five of their past seven versus St. Louis and can win back-to-back games today for the first time since April 18-19.

Kyle Lohse took the loss for the Cardinals even though he gave up just one run over eight innings. Daniel Descalso ended Gallardo's no-hit bid when he began the eighth frame with a single as St. Louis saw its two-game win streak end.

"He mixed it up well," Descalso said of Gallardo's game plan. "He used both sides of the plate. He definitely had his 'A' stuff, and he got the best of us."

The Brewers now hope for a similar bounce-back effort from Narveson, who has given up 17 runs in 20 innings over four starts since opening the season with 13 scoreless innings in his first two outings.

The left-hander has lost his last two outings and the Brewers are just 1-5 in his six starts this year. After only lasting 2 1/3 innings and allowing seven runs versus the Reds on April 25, Narveson settled down a bit to give up four runs on seven hits over six innings of a 5-0 setback at Houston on Sunday.

Narveson, 29, is 1-2 with 4.64 earned run average on the season and is 1-1 with a 3.90 ERA in 10 career games against the Cardinals, including three starts. He was a second-round pick by St. Louis in 2000, making five appearances with the franchise in 2006.

Kyle McClellan had his string of four straight winning starts end his last time out and the St. Louis right-hander hopes to find his way back in the win column this afternoon.

The 26-year-old righty yielded four runs on six hits over five innings versus the Marlins on Tuesday, but did not factor into the decision and is 4-0 with a 3.79 ERA in six games this year, including five starts. St. Louis has won in each of his six appearances this season.

McClellan, who had never started a major league game before this season, is 0-4 with a 2.82 ERA in 22 career relief appearances against the Brewers.