(SportsNetwork.com) - The pitcher is usually considered to be an easy out, but Milwaukee starter Marco Estrada may have to be careful about how he approaches Chicago Cubs hurler Travis Wood on Saturday.
Wood showed last time out how capable he is on the mound and at the plate and he'll take aim at a second straight victory in the second contest of a three- game set versus the Brewers.
Despite having allowed just seven earned runs on the season, including four in his past three outings, the left-handed Wood is coming off just his first win of the season. He did it all in the 5-1 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Monday, driving in four runs while giving up just a solo homer among six hits over seven innings.
Wood matched a career high with nine strikeouts and did not walk a batter for a second start in a row. That came on top of hitting a three-run homer and an RBI double in moving to 1-2 with a 2.52 earned run average on the season.
"He was a one-man wrecking crew," Cubs manager Rick Renteria said on his club's website of Wood.
The 27-year-old Wood hit the seventh home run of his career and is the only active pitcher to have more than one game of driving in at least four runs.
Wood is 3-2 with a 3.33 ERA in his career versus the Brewers, who will just be happy with another solid outing from Estrada on the mound.
The 30-year-old righty pitched well in a no-decision against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday. He allowed one run on a solo homer over six innings without a walk and fanned four.
Estrada is 1-1 with a 2.66 ERA on the year and is unbeaten against the Cubs, going 4-0 with a 3.74 ERA in 11 games with six starts.
Milwaukee won for the sixth time in seven games as it took last night's opener 5-2. Matt Garza scattered two runs and four hits over seven innings while striking out seven in his first victory with the Brewers.
"He really went after guys," Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said of Garza's performance. "His fastball was excellent and he just went after guys. We're playing good baseball."
Lyle Overbay homered and Carlos Gomez had three hits and scored twice in the win. Ryan Braun added three hits of his own and drove in a run.
Chicago starter Carlos Villanueva took the loss after he allowed five runs on 11 hits over five frames, while Emilio Bonifacio and Ryan Sweeney had an RBI each in the Cubs' third loss in a row.
"The first inning obviously didn't start off well," said Renteria. "Obviously not a very clean first inning. (Garza) goes right after hitters and he knows what he's doing. You have to tip your hat off to him a little bit."
Milwaukee went 13-6 against Chicago last season.
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