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Brewers hope to extend wild-card advantage vs. Cardinals

Aug 27, 2008 - 10:52 AM Milwaukee (77-55) at St. Louis (73-60) 8:15 p.m. EDT

ST. LOUIS (Ticker) -- The Milwaukee Brewers are cruising towards their first playoff berth since 1982. They will look to move one step closer when they face the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday.

The Brewers have won five straight and pushed their advantage in the wild-card race to 4 1/2 games over the Cardinals on Tuesday with a 12-0 win in the series opener.

Ryan Braun and Bill Hall homered and Ben Sheets tossed six scoreless innings in the win, which pushed Milwaukee's record this month to 17-6.

St. Louis has dropped four of seven and is tied for second with the New York Mets (73-60) in the wild-card race. The Cardinals have lost seven straight to Milwaukee and are 4-10 versus the Brewers.

Adam Wainwright (7-3, 3.04 ERA) will make his second start since returning from the disabled list for the Cardinals. The righthander made a seamless transition back into the rotation against the Atlanta Braves on Friday, allowing one run and five hits in six innings to earn the win.

Wainwright missed over two months while nursing a sprained finger on his pitching hand but faced the Brewers three times prior to the injury, going 1-1 while posting a 3.92 ERA and 15 strikeouts in 20 2/3 frames.

Milwaukee will counter with lefthander Manny Parra (10-6, 4.10). The 25-year-old lefthander snapped a personal four-game losing streak August 20 against Houston, allowing two runs and six hits in five innings to earn the win.

Parra has faced St. Louis three times this season, surrendering nine runs in 14 frames without factoring in any of the decisions.