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Brewers hit the road to Cincinnati

May 30, 2011 - 2:47 PM (Sports Network) - An outstanding homestand proved that the Milwaukee Brewers are one of the top home clubs in baseball. It has been a different story on the road.

The Brewers try to pick up just their fourth victory in their past 14 road games in the opener of a three-game series versus the Cincinnati Reds, a club that Milwaukee has struggled against over the past few seasons.

Milwaukee plays the opener of a seven-game swing tonight at Great American Ball Park off an 8-1 homestand. The Brewers took the final two games of the stay versus the Giants, winning Sunday's rubber match of a three-game series by a 6-0 margin.

Yovani Gallardo tossed eight scoreless innings of four-hit ball, while Ryan Braun posted three hits and scored twice. Rickie Weeks also had three hits and drove in two runs.

"I think for me to turn it around was my rhythm," Gallardo said. "For a while I was either too quick or too slow. I finally found that comfort zone. That's the key thing when you want to get into the rhythm."

Milwaukee is just 2 1/2 games behind St. Louis in the National League Central thanks in part to a 21-7 record at home. However, the Brewers are just 8-17 on the road and have lost 10 of their past 13 away from home.

Facing the Reds may not be the remedy as the Brewers are just 1-10 at Great American Ball Park since the start of the 2010 season. They were outscored 23-11 in getting swept three games there from March 31-April 3 and Cincinnati has taken 20 of the past 24 meetings overall.

Reds starter Travis Wood picked up a victory in that sweep, holding Milwaukee to just one run over seven innings while striking out a season high-tying seven batters. The victory improved him to 2-0 with a 2.95 earned run average in three career starts versus the Brewers.

The left-hander hasn't lost in his last five starts, going 2-0 with a 3.30 ERA. The 24-year-old Wood did post a second straight no-decision in Philadelphia on Wednesday, giving up three runs on six hits and three walks over six innings of the club's 5-4 loss in 19 innings. The six hour and 11 minute affair was the longest game by time in club history.

In 11 starts this year, Wood is 3-3 with a 5.11 ERA. He'll take the hill in tonight's opener of a nine-game homestand after the Reds wrapped up a 2-8 road trip with Sunday's 2-1 setback in Atlanta.

Johnny Cueto took a tough-luck loss, giving up two runs over eight innings as Cincinnati, playing for the 17th straight day, lost for the 10th time in 12 games overall.

"Nobody's happy in this clubhouse the way we played on this road trip," Cueto said through an interpreter. "But tomorrow's another day. We have to keep fighting."

Jay Bruce hit his NL-leading 15th homer and he has gone deep five times over his last eight games with 14 RBI in that stretch.

Bruce is 2-for-4 with a homer in his career off tonight's starter for Milwaukee, Chris Narveson, who has been day and night over his last two starts in a pair of no-decisions.

The lefty threw 7 1/3 scoreless innings of four-hit ball versus the Padres on May 19 in a game his team lost, 1-0. Narveson was then tagged for six runs on eight hits over just 3 1/3 innings by the Nationals on Tuesday, but Cincinnati managed to rebound for a 7-6 win.

The 29-year-old faced the Reds on April 25 and suffered his worst defeat of the season, allowing a season-high seven runs on eight hits over 2 1/3 innings for his shortest outing of the season. He fell to 0-2 with a 6.11 ERA in five career games versus the Reds, three of those starts.

Overall this year, Narveson is 2-3 with a 4.20 ERA in 10 starts.