Pittsburgh Pirates (30-57) at Milwaukee Brewers (39-49), 2:05 p.m.
Sports Network | July 11, 2010
(Sports Network) - Veteran lefty Randy Wolf pitches for the sweep when the Milwaukee Brewers host thePittsburgh Pirates today in the finale of their three-game series at Miller Park.
Milwaukee has taken one-run verdicts in each of the first two games of the series, including a 4-3 triumph on Saturday, when Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder hit back-to-back home runs to support 6 1/3 strong innings from Dave Bush.
Bush (4-6) gave up two runs on six hits with two walks and five strikeouts. Braun also doubled and scored three times, while Casey McGehee drove in a run and had two hits for Milwaukee.
Brewers rookie right-hander John Axford recorded his 10th save in as many opportunities despite serving up a homer to Ryan Doumit in the ninth.
The Brewers won Friday, 5-4, after Braun came through with the game-winning hit and Fielder had another home run.
Garrett Jones smacked his 11th homer of the year for the Pirates, who have now lost five in a row. Starter Jeff Karstens (2-4) allowed four runs on five hits with a season-high six walks in five innings.
Wolf, a second-round pick of the Philadelphia Phillies in 1997, was an 11-game winner for the Los Angeles Dodgers last season before coming to the Brewers as a free agent and winning six of his initial 14 decisions. He downed St. Louis on July 1 for his last win, then subsequently dropped a 6-1 verdict to San Francisco on Tuesday despite allowing four hits and one earned run in seven innings.
He took just his second loss in 15 career starts against the Pirates May 19 in Pittsburgh, allowing 10 hits and six runs in 6 1/3 innings. Lifetime against Pittsburgh, Wolf is 8-2 with a 3.42 earned run average across exactly 100 innings.
The Pirates counter with Texas-born rookie right-hander Brad Lincoln, who was just 12 years old when Wolf debuted in the minors.
Lincoln was a 6-2 loser at Houston his last time out after allowing seven hits and five runs in five innings. He'd earned his lone major-league win one start earlier with a 2-0 triumph at Wrigley Field against the Chicago Cubson June 30.
In 36 big-league innings over six starts, Lincoln has given up 40 hits and 21 earned runs with 10 walks and 14 strikeouts.
Milwaukee has won seven of its 10 matchups with the Pirates this season and is 30-9 against the Bucs since the start of the 2008 campaign.