• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Brewers try to maintain season-long dominance of Pirates

Aug 29, 2008 - 6:33 AM Milwaukee (77-56) at Pittsburgh (57-76) 7:05 pm EDT

PITTSBURGH (Ticker) -- The Milwaukee Brewers are making a serious push to make the postseason for the first time since 1982. Whether he likes it , Tom Gorzelanny is helping them get there.

The Brewers eye their seventh straight win over the Pittsburgh Pirates when the National League Central rivals meet on Friday.

While Milwaukee - which owns a 3 1/2-game lead in the NL wild-card race over the Cardinals (74-60) - saw its five-game winning streak come to an end with Wednesday's 5-3 setback to St. Louis, it has been able to find solace lately against Pittsburgh. The Brewers have won eight of nine in the season series.

Two of those Pirate losses to the Brewers have come in Gorzelanny's last two outings.

Gorzelanny (6-8, 6.82 ERA) was optioned to the minors on July 5 for six weeks after surrendering eight runs - seven earned - and 11 hits over 4 2/3 innings in a blowout loss on July 4.

The lefthander wasn't much better in his return to the rotation, allowing six runs and seven hits over 4 2/3 innings in a 6-3 defeat on Saturday.

Dave Bush (8-9, 4.24) will seek his career-best fourth straight decision, after beating the Pirates in his last turn. The righthander improved to 3-0 with a 2.30 ERA in four August starts, yielding three runs and seven hits over seven frames in a 10-4 victory.