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Brewers eye rare sweep of Padres at Miller Park

May 11, 2011 - 2:39 PM (Sports Network) - Brewers starter Randy Wolf didn't come away all that happy with his last start. If he can right the ship tonight, he can help Milwaukee match its longest winning streak of the season and record its first three-game sweep of the San Diego Padres in nearly eight years.

Wolf will look to pick up the pieces this afternoon at Miller Park after his last outing on Friday in which he was drilled by the Cardinals for six runs over five innings for his shortest start since a four-frame effort on April 3.

"My command was the worst it's been all year," Wolf said.

The left-hander had been 3-0 with a 0.65 earned run average in four starts before the St. Louis game and is now 3-3 with a 3.38 ERA in seven starts on the season.

Wolf, 34, is 6-5 with a 5.18 ERA in 14 career starts when facing the Padres.

Milwaukee had lost eight of nine prior to this series, but has posted back-to- back wins for the first time since April 18-19. A victory in today's finale would match Milwaukee's season-best three-game winning streak from April 5-7 and give the club its first sweep of San Diego since doing so at home from May 19-21, 2003.

Three hits and three runs batted in by Jonathan Lucroy and another two RBI from Casey McGehee helped the Brewers race out to an eight-run lead by the fourth inning of Tuesday's meeting before the Padres rallied for six runs over the contests final four frames. However, the rally fell short as the Brewers held on for an 8-6 win.

"It was a great baseball game," Padres manager Bud Black said. "We just came up a little bit short again. We had a lot of great at-bats."

Milwaukee starter Shaun Marcum got the win, though he was charged with five runs on nine hits over six-plus innings. He gave up a two-run single to Kyle Phillips and a run-scoring base-hit to Alberto Gonzalez before exiting with nobody out in the seventh inning.

"The offense bailed me out tonight," Marcum said. "My command was on early but it got away from me in the seventh."

John Axford picked up his seventh save for the Brewers despite giving up an unearned run on two hits in the ninth, sending the Padres to their second straight loss to open an eight-game road trip.

Though luck has yet to find his side this season, winless starter Tim Stauffer has to feel a victory is coming his way soon as he makes his eighth start of the season for the Padres.

Stauffer is just 0-1 on the season despite a solid 2.61 ERA. He has gone at least six innings in four straight starts, posting a 1.37 ERA in that span, and hasn't allowed a homer in five straight outings. The right-hander hurled 6 2/3 scoreless innings of four-hit ball on Friday versus Arizona, but picked up his fifth straight no-decision when his club needed extra innings to record a 4-3 win.

"I thought he was sharp again tonight," Black told his team's website afterwards. "I thought the fastball gained life as the game went on."

The 28-year-old Stauffer, who hasn't posted a decision since a loss to the Giants on April 6, will be making his first career start against the Brewers and has a 1.17 ERA in four career relief outings against them.

San Diego won four of seven over the Brewers last year, but dropped two of three at Miller Park.