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Rolling Brewers welcome Nationals to Miller Park

May 23, 2011 - 2:36 PM (Sports Network) - Things are starting to look a bit brighter in Brew City, as Milwaukee resumes a lengthy nine-game homestand tonight with the first of three games versus the Washington Nationals at Miller Park.

The Brewers swept the Colorado Rockies in three games over the weekend and have won 11 of 15 contests since a seven-game losing streak bridging the end of April and more than three weeks into May. They kept their foot on the proverbial gas pedal with Sunday's 3-1 win over the Rockies, as Ryan Braun's two-run triple highlighted a three-run third inning.

Braun also came around to score on a throwing error in the inning.

"It's unbelievable -- one hit produces three runs," Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said. "You get a hit and it goes in a good spot. The guy dives for it and allows you to get the third run."

Solid pitching from the Brewers kept the visitors at bay. Randy Wolf hurled seven strong innings of one-run ball, while relievers Kameron Loe and John Axford each pitched a scoreless inning, with Axford collecting his 12th save.

Milwaukee will also host San Francisco for three games and has won six in a row as the host. It pulled within 3 1/2 games of St. Louis for the NL Central lead with the latest surge. Taking the ball for the Brew Crew tonight will be Yovani Gallardo, who has won three straight starts. Gallardo has thrown six innings of two-run ball in back-to-back outings and put that line up in a 5-2 win at San Diego the previous time out on Wednesday.

Gallardo, who began the win streak with eight shutout frames at St. Louis, owns a 5-2 record and a pedestrian 4.70 ERA in 10 starts. The Mexican righty is 3-0 in five home starts this season, but lost at Washington back on April 17, when he allowed seven runs on 10 hits in 5 1/3 innings of an 8-4 loss. He is 2-1 in five career games (4 starts) against the Nationals.

The Nationals lost two of three games in Baltimore over the weekend and are just 1-4 on an eight-game road trip. They are coming off Sunday's 2-1 loss to the Orioles in which Jordan Zimmerman pitched well enough for the win, but was saddled with his fifth defeat (2-5) for giving up two runs in 6 1/3 innings.

Ian Desmond and Mike Morse both had two hits for Washington, which is only 3-7 in its past 10 games and last in the NL East Division.

Washington had a man on second in the first with one out and runners on second and third in the third with one out but failed to score a run and take early control of the game. The Nationals went 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position and left nine men on base.

"Nobody is more frustrated than the players and myself that we didn't get a couple runs there," said Nationals' manager Jim Riggleman.

Tom Gorzelanny didn't receive any run support in his last outing and gets the nod Monday for Riggleman's club. In a 3-0 loss against the New York Mets Wednesday from Citi Field, Gorzelanny was reached for all three runs on eight hits and five walks through 5 2/3 innings.

The left-hander dropped to 2-3 in eight starts and saw his ERA raise to 3.56 on the season. Gorzelanny, who is 1-3 in four road starts this season, did not record a decision in a 4-3 victory over Milwaukee back on April 15. He allowed two runs in six innings that day and is 4-3 in 15 career games, 11 of which have been starts, against the Brewers.

The Nationals swept that three-game set in DC from April 15-17 after Milwaukee took four of six matchups in the 2010 campaign.