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Brewers look for more strong pitching in finale against Padres

Sep 7, 2008 - 12:47 PM San Diego (54-88) at Milwaukee (82-60), 2:05 pm EDT

MILWAUKEE (Ticker) -- There have been several constants throughout the Milwaukee Brewers' successful season and starting pitching has been one of them.

The Brewers send Manny Parra to the mound hoping he can follow up on strong outings by the club's aces as they take on the San Diego Padres on Sunday.

Ben Sheets allowed five hits while striking out seven in a complete-game, 1-0 victory on Saturday. The previous night, CC Sabathia yielded one run in seven innings of a 3-2, 11-inning win to snap a four-game skid.

The Brewers are four games behind the Chicago Cubs (86-56) in the National League Central, but lead the Philadelphia Phillies (77-64) by 4 1/2 games in the wild-card chase.

Parra (10-6, 4.10 ERA) has yielded four runs or less in eight of his last 10 starts, but has one win once since July 25. The 25-year-old lefthander won eight straight decisions from May 20 to July 20 and will face the Padres for the first time in his young career.

San Diego counters with Chris Young (4-5, 4.91), who will make his second start since coming off the disabled list due to a strained right forearm.

The 6-10 righthander also spent nearly two months on the DL while recovering from facial fractures suffered after getting struck by a line drive off the bat of St. Louis Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols.

Young is winless since May 16 and has eclipsed six innings twice in 14 outings.

The Padres have dropped six of nine and own baseball's worst record - one half-game behind the Washington Nationals (55-88).