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Fading Brewers welcome back Sheets

Aug 29, 2007 - 2:52 PM Milwaukee (65-66) at Chicago Cubs (67-63) 8:05 pm EDT

CHICAGO (Ticker) -- Ben Sheets' return to the Milwaukee Brewers is nothing short of a godsend.

Sheets takes the hill for the first time in over a month as the Brewers continue a crucial three-game series with the first-place Chicago Cubs on Wednesday.

Milwaukee, which had led the National League Central for most of the season until recently, continued its recent struggles in Tuesday's opener, leading 3-1 in the seventh inning before reliever Scott Linebrink allowed a game-tying double to Jacque Jones and committed an error that allowed the go-ahead run to score in a 5-3 loss.

It was the fifth straight loss and 11th in the last 14 games for the Brewers.

Sheets (10-4, 3.39 ERA) returns after being on the disabled list since July 16 with a sprained right middle finger as well as a blister. In his absence, the Brewers (65-66) have gone from 7 1/2 games ahead of the Cubs (67-63) in the NL Central on June 28, to third place - 2 1/2 games back.

The righthanded Sheets has done well against the Cubs in the past, posting an 8-7 record and a 3.97 ERA in 21 career starts.

Chicago will counter Sheets with its ace, Carlos Zambrano (14-10, 3.95). Zambrano, who is 0-3 with a 7.04 ERA in August, will try and tie Atlanta's Tim Hudson and San Diego's Jake Peavy for the NL lead in wins. In his last start, Zambrano allowed four runs and six hits in 5 1/3 innings in a 4-1 loss to the San Francisco Giants on Thursday.

The Cubs, who lead the St. Louis Cardinals (64-64) by two games, got a boost of their own on Tuesday as Alfonso Soriano returned to the lineup for the first time since suffering a quadriceps injury on August 5.