Brewers, Mets continue set at Citi Field

Yovani Gallardo looks to end his season on a positive note as the Milwaukee Brewers hurler takes the mound on Friday night for the second contest of a four-game set with the New York Mets.

Gallardo is 11-10 with a 4.23 earned run average in 30 starts this season, but 5-2 with a 2.33 ERA in seven starts since returning from a 15-day stint on the disabled list caused by a hamstring injury.

The right-hander picked up his first setback since July 25 in a 7-2 decision versus St. Louis on Saturday, but logged a quality start with seven innings of two-run ball. Gallardo struck out seven.

The 27-year-old beat the Mets on July 6 despite yielding four runs over six frames, evening his career record against them to 3-3 with a 3.72 ERA in eight starts.

For the Mets, Carlos Torres gets another chance to prove himself a capable starter. He his 4-5 in 32 games this season, posting a 1.47 ERA in 24 relief outings compared to 4.95 in his eight starts.

Torres had lost his last three starts before getting a win over Philadelphia on Sunday. The 30-year-old righty hurled six innings and allowed two runs on seven hits and three walks while striking out six.

Torres will face the Brewers for the second time and first as a starter. He gave up two runs over 2 1/3 innings of relief last year while with Colorado.

The Mets will try to even this series tonight after going 0-for-14 with runners in scoring position during Thursday's 4-2 loss. It didn't help that third baseman David Wright exited the game early after getting hit in the helmet by a pitch in the third inning.

"Just more precautionary; they didn't want me to stay in the game. I feel pretty good," Wright said. "I passed all the concussion tests. I went through that protocol. Everything seems like it's good."

The Mets had won five of six coming in, while the Brewers logged their fourth victory in five games thanks to a four-run second inning. Juan Francisco and Jeff Bianchi both drove in a run and Scooter Gennett knocked in the last two runs of the frame.

Johnny Hellweg walked four and plunked a pair of batters -- including Wright. He gave up one run over four innings, but threw just 37 of his 80 pitches for strikes.

"Second time up -- I definitely wanted to show more," Hellweg said. "There are a few positives, a couple of things I'd like to do better. That's why they give guys a chance in September and give guys a look. Hopefully, I did enough to get some more in Spring Training."

Jim Henderson allowed a home run to Josh Satin in the ninth before notching his 27th save of the season.

Brewers outfielder Carlos Gomez is eligible to return to tonight after serving a one-game suspension on Thursday for his role in a benches-clearing incident on Wednesday versus Atlanta. Gomez is hitting .280 this year with a team-high 23 home runs.

The Mets won two of three in Milwaukee from July 5-7.