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Sabathia eyes fourth straight win with Brewers

Jul 23, 2008 - 10:12 AM Milwaukee (57-43) at St. Louis (57-45) 8:15 pm EDT

ST. LOUIS (Ticker) -- CC Sabathia is doing exactly what he was doing over his final two months with the Cleveland Indians. However, he's getting rewarded for it much more often.

Sabathia tries to to remain perfect against the National League while attempting to push the Milwaukee Brewers to their seventh straight win on Wednesday when they face the St. Louis Cardinals.

On July 7, Sabathia (3-0, 1.88 ERA) was acquired for four prospects. Upon his arrival, the reigning American League Cy Young Award winner was saddled with a 6-8 record despite ERAs of 2.44 in May and 1.89 in June, thanks to an Indians offense that managed 12 total runs in seven of his eight losses.

Run support has not been an issue since the trade, however, as Sabathia has been afforded 16 runs to work with in his first three starts. Of course, he has held up his end, yielding no more than two earned runs in any outing while posting wins in each turn.

Milwaukee gave him a substantial working margin in Friday's 9-1 victory over San Francisco - the second win during the Brewers' current six-game run - allowing Sabathia plenty of cushion to post his second straight complete game, allowing four hits and striking out 10 to improve to 5-0 in six starts overall.

Milwaukee is looking for a seven-game winning streak for the first time since April 28-May 5, 2005.

To do so, they will have to deal with Braden Looper (9-7, 4.60), who has not tasted victory over his last four turns. The righthander escaped with a no-decision on Friday despite surrendering six runs over three innings in the Cardinals' 11-7 win over San Diego.