Major League Baseball

Rays-Brewers Preview

Published Jun. 22, 2011 2:26 a.m. ET

foxsports

Shaun Marcum is determined to make his next start for the Milwaukee Brewers.

Despite a hip injury, Marcum remains scheduled to face the Tampa Bay Rays in Wednesday's decisive series finale at Miller Park.

A strained left hip flexor forced Marcum (7-2, 2.85 ERA) to leave his last outing after he gave up two runs and four hits in one inning of a 10-4 loss at Boston on Friday. The right-hander did not suffer any damage following the injury, but felt sore after throwing a brief bullpen session Monday.

Still, he is poised to take the mound and help Milwaukee (41-34) win consecutive games for the first time since June 11-12.

"I think everybody here knows I want to pitch," Marcum told the Brewers' official website. "They didn't trade for me to sit in here and watch baseball games. They traded for me to go out and pitch, so that's what I'm going to try to do. I'm going to go out and try to give these guys a chance to win and compete and pitch, and whatever happens, happens."

Marcum went 1-2 with a 3.33 ERA in seven starts against the Rays while with Toronto. Both defeats came last season when he posted a 5.55 ERA in four starts.

If Marcum is unable to pitch Wednesday, Marco Estrada could take his place. Though the right-hander has pitched out of the bullpen the last month, Estrada is 1-1 with a 5.18 ERA in four starts this season.

Whomever takes the mound will try to help the Brewers build on Tuesday's 5-1 win over the Rays. Zack Greinke threw seven strong innings, Jonathan Lucroy had three hits and Ryan Braun drove in two runs as Milwaukee won for just the third time in nine games.

Braun, who did not play in Monday's 8-4 loss because of a respiratory infection, is batting .340 with 10 RBIs during a 13-game hitting streak.

"He's feeling a lot better than he did (Monday), but he's still not feeling real good," manager Ron Roenicke said. "I think the energy level was OK during the game, he was talking and there was some conversations, which when he's feeling really bad, he's not going to have those.''

Yuniesky Betancourt homered Tuesday, and is one of two current Brewers to face Tampa Bay left-hander David Price. The shortstop is 0 for 5 against Price (7-6, 3.61), who allowed three runs, walked five and threw 106 pitches in five innings of a 4-2 loss to Boston on Thursday.

"He's not going to be perfect every time out there,'' Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon said. "He didn't have his best stuff, but he gave us a chance. He was a little off, but he competed."

John Jaso had two of his team's four hits and drove in the lone run as the Rays (40-34) had their five-game interleague winning streak snapped Tuesday.

"We have to do better," Maddon said.

Ben Zobrist went 0 for 4 on Tuesday, but is batting .333 (6 for 18) his last five games. He's 5 for 10 with two doubles versus Marcum.