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Pirates shoot for rare series victory in Milwaukee

Jun 2, 2012 - 1:41 PM (Sports Network) - The Pittsburgh Pirates have been very successful over Erik Bedard's last six starts. They hope that trend continues tonight with a rare series victory at Miller Park as Bedard faces the Milwaukee Brewers for the first time in the middle test of a three-game set.

The Pirates are 5-1 in Bedard's last six starts, with the lefty himself winning three of four decisions in that span. That comes after Bedard lost each of his first four starts of the season.

After giving up a season-high four runs in each of his previous two outings, Bedard held the Cubs to just two hits and four walks over six scoreless innings of a 10-4 win. That improved the 33-year-old to 3-5 on the season with a 3.12 earned run average in 10 starts.

"We got a bit of mixed bag from Erik early," Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. "But, when push came to shove, he made pitches when he needed to and kept the ball out of the middle of the plate. So, overall, job well done."

Hurdle will hope tonight that the Brewers' unfamiliarity with Bedard will help the Pirates pick up a victory in Milwaukee. Pittsburgh headed into Friday's opener having lost 38 of its past 42 trips to Miller Park, but hammered out an 8-2 victory behind a six-run third inning and a solid outing by starter Kevin Correia.

Jose Tabata highlighted the big frame with a three-run double and Andrew McCutchen also drove in three runs for the Pirates, who beat the Brewers for only the ninth time in the last 37 encounters overall and can win just their second series at Miller Park since the start of the 2007 season.

"It's good obviously to get early run support, especially considering our struggles here," said Correia, who limited the Brewers to solo homers by Corey Hart and Nyjer Morgan over 5 2/3 innings.

Pittsburgh's sixth victory in seven games also moved it to 26-25 on the year, the first time the club has been above .500 since it was 2-1 on April 8.

Randy Wolf was tagged for six runs on eight hits and four walks over six frames in a loss that ended Milwaukee's season-high four-game winning streak.

"I just let one inning get away from me," Wolf said.

Morgan's homer, meanwhile, ended a streak of 138 plate appearances to begin a season without an RBI, a run that broke Herb Adams' 1950 record of 125 in a row with the White Sox.

Milwaukee also lost outfielder Ryan Braun in the seventh inning with a right hip strain. That came after he sat out Thursday's contest in Los Angeles to rest a right Achilles injury. Second baseman Rickie Weeks also did not play on Friday due to illness.

The Brewers will try to get a second victory in a row out of Shaun Marcum tonight after the righty snapped a two-start slide with Monday's win at Los Angeles.

After allowing nine earned runs over the two defeats, Marcum held the Dodgers to a run on six hits and two walks over seven innings. He struck out a season- best nine batters and used a career-high 119 pitches.

"When he was really good last year for all that time this is what he did," Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said about Marcum, who retired eight in a row at one point. "He gets the hitters thinking offspeed and he throws a fastball by them, and his location was great."

The 30-year-old evened his season record to 3-3 with a 3.63 ERA in 10 starts and has split two career decisions versus the Pirates to go along with a 3.55 ERA in four previous meetings.