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Brewers pay a visit to St. Louis

Aug 3, 2012 - 2:52 PM (Sports Network) - Veteran southpaw Randy Wolf aims for a 10th career win against St. Louis tonight when the Milwaukee Brewers visit the Cardinals for the opener of a three-game weekend series at Busch Stadium.

A second-round pick of the Philadelphia Phillies in 1997, Wolf has made 21 of 362 career starts against the Cardinals while splitting 18 decisions and posting a 3.90 earned run average across 136 innings.

He last faced them on July 17 in Milwaukee and emerged with a 3-2 win after allowing two runs on eight hits with a walk and six strikeouts on 6 2/3 innings.

It was Wolf's lone win in 16 outings since April 30.

In two starts since the defeat of the Cardinals, Wolf is 0-1 while giving up six runs on 14 hits in 13 innings against Philadelphia and Washington.

For St. Louis, rookie right-hander Joe Kelly makes his 10th big-league start.

The native Californian, who turned 11 years old the month Wolf was drafted, was an 11-4 winner at Kansas City in his first major-league decision on June 22, but is 0-4 in six starts since.

He's pitched at least six innings in seven straight starts and allowed three runs or less in all seven while dropping his earned run average from its season-high of 3.52 to its current 2.96.

He went six innings and allowed two earned runs in a 3-2 loss at Milwaukee on July 17, his lone career meeting with the Brewers.

On Thursday in Colorado, Josh Rutledge and Wilin Rosario each hit a two- run home run as the Rockies pounded the Cardinals, 8-2, in the finale of a three- game series.

Jon Jay and Carlos Beltran each drove in a run for the Cardinals, who had won six of eight coming in.

"They've been hitting real well lately," St. Louis manager Mike Matheny said. "They've been putting up some terrific numbers and we need the other guys to do it, too."

Lance Lynn was charged with two runs on seven hits with four walks and four strikeouts over six innings. Fernando Salas (1-4) was touched for three runs to take the loss.

On Wednesday in Milwaukee, Ryan Braun homered and drove in three as the Brewers crushed the Astros, 13-4, to complete a three-game sweep.

Braun knocked in a pair during a six-run fifth inning, then belted his 29th homer of the season in the sixth.

Rickie Weeks and Cesar Izturis both homered during the fifth, while Jonathan Lucroy later added a two-run blast for the Brewers, who had lost nine of 10 games entering this series.

"We've been really frustrated," Braun said. "A lot of games have been demoralizing. We've had a lot of difficult games with the way we lost them, but our confidence is still there."

Mike Fiers (5-4) earned the win, allowing two runs on eight hits over six-plus innings. He did not issue a walk and struck out six en route to his eighth straight quality start.

St. Louis has won five of nine games with the Brewers in 2012, including two of three in a series at Busch Stadium in July.

The teams split 18 games last season and Milwaukee last won the season series in 2010.