The Milwaukee Brewers shook off some recent home woes game series. They'll hope for more of the same on Tuesday out of starter Yovani Gallardo, who goes for his first career victory over Los Angeles.
Gallardo hopes to avoid a second straight loss tonight, but that could be tough to pull off given his history with the Dodgers. Gallardo has faced the club three times in his career and lost all three, giving up 20 runs over 16 2/3 innings for a 10.80 earned run average.
He'll face Los Angeles for the first time in 2011 and is coming off a loss in St. Louis on Thursday that followed back-to-back wins over the Astros. Versus the Cardinals, the right-hander was touched for five runs -- four earned -- on seven hits over five innings.
Gallardo fell to 5-7 with a 4.32 ERA in 14 road starts this year. By comparison, the 25-year-old is 8-1 with a 2.92 ERA in 11 games at home, where he hasn't lost since June 9.
The Dodgers swept a three-game series against the Brewers in Milwaukee last year and had won eight of 10 at Miller Park before dropping last night's contest. To say the Brewers capitalized on what was given to them in Monday's opener would be an understatement. They managed just six hits, but three of them were solo homers by Ryan Braun, Jonathan Lucroy and Corey Hart to back eight scoreless innings from Randy Wolf in a 3-0 victory.
Defense also helped. Milwaukee turned four double plays and the sixth triple play in franchise history to frustrate Los Angeles.
"It was incredible, I give all the credit to the defense today. I got into a couple of jams and they made incredible plays," said Wolf after his team won for the 17th time in 19 games and increased their lead over the Cardinals for first place in the National League Central to six games.
The rare three-out play came in unconventional fashion in the second inning. Matt Kemp walked and Juan Rivera singled to left to put men on first and second before James Loney grounded a ball just past Wolf. Second baseman Josh Wilson flipped the ball directly from his glove to shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt, who stepped on second and threw to first for two outs. First baseman Prince Fielder then wheeled and threw home, where catcher George Kottaras applied the tag on Kemp, who tried to score on a head-first slide.
"It was a close play," Kemp said. "I was just trying to score a run and they got me."
The Dodgers were coming off a three-game sweep of the Astros that they won by a 14-1 margin. Ted Lilly was the hard-luck loser for a third straight start, giving up a run and two hits in seven innings. He has given up just four runs over his losing streak.
"Some weird things were going on," Lilly said. "Certainly their defense made some good plays to get them out of trouble."
Taking the hill for the Dodgers is Chad Billingsley, who had alternated wins and losses over seven starts before a no-decision versus the Phillies on Wednesday.
Staked to a 6-0 lead, the right-hander lasted only 4 1/3 innings and was charged with five runs on seven hits and three walks without a strikeout. Only two of the runs were earned in an eventual 9-8 loss.
Billingsley is 10-9 with a 4.17 earned run average in 24 starts this year, but has a 5.53 ERA in 12 road games. The 27-year-old faces the Brewers for the first time in 2011 and is 2-1 versus them in six games, including four starts, with a 5.40 ERA.
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