Major League Baseball

Brewers-Astros Preview

Published Jun. 20, 2013 2:13 a.m. ET

share

facebookxredditlink

foxsports

Based on his history at Minute Maid Park, Yovani Gallardo would appear to be in good position to continue his recent success.

Riding a two-game scoreless stretch, the right-hander tries to win in Houston for the fourth straight time and help the Milwaukee Brewers record a winning road trip Thursday against the Astros.

Gallardo (6-6, 4.41 ERA) has allowed seven hits over 14 scoreless innings to win two straight outings after posting an 8.04 ERA in his previous three. He gave up three hits over six innings of a 6-0 victory at Cincinnati on Saturday.

"I feel good - the past three starts, actually," Gallardo said. "It seems like things are finally falling together. I've been able to find a rhythm."

He's usually been able to do so against the Astros (27-46), going 13-3 with a 2.87 ERA in 16 starts. Gallardo had won 10 consecutive outings against them before losing the last one, yielding five runs in six innings of a 7-6 home loss Sept. 28.

However, he still has a three-game win streak in Houston, yielding five runs in 21 2-3 innings with 20 strikeouts. He's 5-2 with a 2.66 ERA all-time at Minute Maid Park.

He'll try to help Milwaukee (29-41) build on a 3-1 comeback victory Wednesday and finish its current trip at 5-4. Rickie Weeks hit a two-run homer in the eighth inning and Aramis Ramirez added a solo shot in the ninth to help the Brewers to their seventh win in 11 contests.

Weeks, who had two of his team's six hits, is batting .419 with three homers in his last 11 games. He batted .182 with three home runs in his first 52 contests, a slump that prompted the Brewers to call up promising prospect Scooter Gennett this month to split time with him at second base.

"Once Scooter got here and we got them matched up, he has been swinging the bat better," manager Ron Roenicke said. "So it's hard to say whether it was just the timing of it or it is the matchups.

"So I think the combination of the two. Scooter has done a nice job out there and hopefully it's a good platoon system."

Weeks won't go into much detail about trying to win back the full-time job.

"It's just one of those things where if my name is in the lineup I've got to go out there and do my job," he said.

Jose Altuve had three of the 10 hits for the Astros, who went 0 for 6 with runners in scoring position and fell for the second time in seven games.

Altuve is batting .356 in 26 games versus Milwaukee, but he's 3 for 15 against Gallardo.

Scheduled Houston starter Lucas Harrell (5-7, 4.48) has allowed four earned runs and 14 hits in 20 2-3 innings over his last three starts. His lone win in that span came Saturday, giving up three runs and striking out seven in 6 2-3 innings of a 4-3 victory over the Chicago White Sox.

The right-hander is 0-1 with a 4.35 ERA in two starts versus Milwaukee.

share

Get more from Major League Baseball Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more

in this topic

Major League Baseball