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Brewers hope to snap three-game slide

May 6, 2008 - 1:04 PM Milwaukee (16-15) at Florida (17-14) 7:10 pm EDT

MIAMI (Ticker) - The Milwaukee Brewers spent a great deal of time and money upgrading their bullpen in the offseason. So far, those resources appear to have been wasted.

The Brewers will try to avoid their season-high fourth straight loss as they open a three-game series on Tuesday against the Florida Marlins.

Despite losing closer Francisco Cordero to Cincinnati in the offseason, Milwaukee fortified its relievers by adding Randy Choate, David Riske and closer Eric Gagne.

While Choate finds himself on the disabled list with a fractured left hand, Riske is 0-1 with a 5.51 ERA and Gagne has blown five of his 14 save chances.

The bullpen's struggles were on display again in Sunday's 8-6, 12-inning loss to the Houston Astros.

Gagne surrendered two runs in the bottom of the ninth to blow the save opportunity before reliever Mitch Stetter allowed a two-run homer to Hunter Pence in the 12th. The loss marked the first time the Brewers had been swept this season.

The bullpen woes are right in line with the struggles of Jeff Suppan (1-1, 5.19 ERA), who will be trying to rebound from an abysmal showing against the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday. In the 19-5 loss, the righthander surrendered a career-high 11 runs and 11 hits over 3 2/3 innings.

He will facing off against Scott Olsen (3-1, 2.70), who is coming off a poor performance of his own on Wednesday. In his shortest outing of the season, the lefthander permitted four runs and seven hits over five innings in a 13-1 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers.