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Reds' D-Train set to arrive at Brewers' Miller Park

Jul 10, 2011 - 2:34 PM (Sports Network) - It has been over a year since Dontrelle Willis last pitched in the majors, but the former National League Rookie of the Year is getting another chance to resurrect his career.

Willis gets the call for the Cincinnati Reds this afternoon as they try to split their four-game series with the Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park.

Willis is set to make his Reds debut in this finale after Edinson Volquez was optioned to Triple-A Louisville on Thursday to work on command issues following his outing two days earlier versus the Cardinals in which he gave up seven runs over 5 1/3 innings.

A former two-time All-Star, Willis has fallen on hard times as of late, recording just three wins since 2008. He split last year with Arizona and Detroit, going 2-3 with a 5.62 earned run average in 15 games, all but two of those starts.

Tonight marks the first major league appearance for the left-hander since last July 3 with the Diamondbacks. Willis has been working on his form with Louisville, going 5-2 with a 2.63 ERA in 13 starts with the minor league club. The 29-year-old has struck out 67 batters over 75 1/3 innings with just 20 walks.

"It's been a long road for him, and he's earned his way back here," Reds manager Dusty Baker told Cincinnati's website. "We didn't give it to him. We gave him an opportunity and he seized the opportunity, and that's the one thing that I can promise anybody -- the opportunity. It's up to them to seize the opportunity, so hopefully he can give us a show."

Willis has made five career starts against the Brewers, going 3-2 with a 2.65 ERA.

The Reds will hope that the "D-Train" can recapture some past magic and send them into the All-Star break at the .500 mark. After losing the first two games of this set by one run, Cincinnati improved to 45-46 on the season with an extra-inning victory last night.

Jay Bruce homered to lead off the 10th inning and four batters added RBI singles in the frame to lift the Reds to an 8-4 win. Ramon Hernandez had one of those run-scoring base hits after earlier connecting on a two-run homer, but it was Bruce parking a changeup from Marco Estrada into the right-field seats that got the surge going.

"I was looking for a pitch up and in the zone that I could put a good swing on," Bruce said. "It was a big game for us. With the All-Star break coming up, we wanted to pick up some momentum."

Cincinnati won for just the third time in nine games, but the fourth-place club did pull to within three games of Milwaukee and St. Louis for the National League Central's top spot.

The Brewers had a three-game winning streak snapped and left the winning run on third base in the ninth inning. Yuniesky Betancourt did have a run-scoring hit for the club in the 10th frame, Milwaukee's first run since Betancourt scored on starter Shaun Marcum's suicide squeeze in the second.

"We went a long time without scoring, but we had our chances," Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said.

The loss denied Milwaukee its first series victory over Cincinnati since a three-game sweep at home from May 29-31, 2009. The Brewers had lost 23 of their previous 29 games versus the Reds, including seven of nine this season, before the start of this set.

Milwaukee outfielder Ryan Braun missed his seventh straight game due to a strained left calf and pulled out of Tuesday's All-Star Game despite being the league's leading vote getter.

Reds third baseman Scott Rolen, meanwhile, was added to the roster to replace an injured Chipper Jones. Rolen connected on his 499th career double in the 10th inning last night and is one two-bagger shy of joining Jones and George Brett as the only third baseman in the majors to post at least 2,000 hits, 500 doubles, 300 home runs and 1,200 RBI in their career.

Randy Wolf will try to prevent that milestone from happening as he looks to get on track before the All-Star break. The Milwaukee southpaw has yielded 11 runs and 17 hits over back-to-back losses to the Yankees and Diamondbacks.

Wolf had a three-decision win streak end in New York on June 30 before giving up a season-high seven runs on 10 hits, two homers and four walks in six innings of a setback to the Diamondbacks on Tuesday. The 34-year-old wasn't exactly sure what led to the rough outing.

"It was one of those games where the way I felt didn't match the results," said Wolf. "I felt good on the mound, but obviously, the results weren't good at all."

Now 6-6 with a 3.72 ERA this season, Wolf will look to avenge an April 3 loss to the Reds as he was drilled for six runs over just four innings. He allowed homers to Jonny Gomes and Brandon Phillips, who connected on a three-run shot to help drop Wolf to 10-4 with a 3.44 ERA lifetime versus the Reds.