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Reeling Brewers turn to Sabathia on short rest

Sep 20, 2008 - 10:13 AM Milwaukee (84-70) at Cincinnati (71-82), 3:55 pm EDT

CINCINNATI (Ticker) -- Just when the Milwaukee Brewers needed CC Sabathia to continue his dominance, he showed the National League he is, in fact, human.

With their playoff lives on the line, the Brewers turn to their lefty ace with hopes of snapping a dreadful skid while taking on the Cincinnati Reds on Saturday.

Milwaukee has dropped seven of its last eight and is nine games behind the Chicago Cubs (92-60) in the NL Central and two games in back of the Philadelphia Phillies (86-68) in the wild-card hunt.

Things didn't get any better on Friday, as the New York Mets (86-67) won a coin flip with the Brewers and would host a tiebreaker for the NL wild card on September 29 if the teams finish with identical records and a game is needed to decide a postseason berth. The Mets are a half-game ahead of the Phillies in the East.

Major League Baseball conducted previous flips on September 12. Philadelphia would host the Brewers in the event those teams have the same record and a tiebreaker game is needed.

To avoid such predicaments, the Brewers will need to get back to their winning ways. They turn to Sabathia (9-1, 1.82 ERA) with hopes he can bounce back from his first loss since being acquired from the Cleveland Indians on July 7.

The 28-year-old lefthander yielded four runs and nine hits over seven innings against the Cubs on Tuesday, which turned out to be a 5-4 loss.

The Reds counter with Johnny Cueto (8-13, 4.68), who has one win since July 3. The 22-year-old righthander surrendered one run, four hits and six walks over five innings in a no-decision against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday.