Matt Garza will try to snap a personal four-start winless streak on Monday evening as the Milwaukee Brewers open a home-and-home set against the Minnesota Twins with the first of two straight meetings at Miller Park.
Garza has gone 0-1 with a 4.68 earned run average since his last victory on May 5. He did not factor into a 7-6 win over Baltimore on Tuesday, charged with six runs -- three earned -- on five hits and two walks with nine strikeouts over 6 2/3 frames.
The 30-year-old righty is 2-4 with a 4.84 ERA and for the third time in his career will take on a Twins club that took him in the first round of the 2005 draft. Garza, who pitched two seasons with Minnesota, is 0-1 against the franchise with a 2.57 ERA.
The Brewers have won four of their last five contests and blasted the Chicago Cubs 9-0 on Sunday in the rubber match of a three-game series. Kyle Lohse needed only 93 pitches to log his 11th career complete game, a three-hit shutout that also featured six strikeouts.
Lohse won his seventh straight decision and also added two hits and a pair of RBI at the plate.
"It was going smooth, I was just getting the ball and throwing it," said Lohse. "I was executing pitches and changing it up."
Ryan Braun hit a two-run homer and Lyle Overbay drove in three runs in the victory.
The Twins claimed a series victory over the weekend as well, besting the New York Yankees 7-2 on Sunday to finish off a three-game set. Former Yankee hurler Phil Hughes bested his former team by scattering two runs and three hits over eight innings.
"A little bit more nerves than usual, but thankfully I was throwing strikes early and was able to make some pitches," Hughes said. "Obviously, it was a half-inning away from being a different story, but the guys rallied there in the ninth and it was a solid win for us."
Minnesota trailed by a run going into the ninth frame, but rallied for six runs. Josh Willingham started the surge with a solo homer, Brian Dozier had an RBI double and Eduardo Nunez plated two runs with a double. Oswaldo Arcia then capped the big frame with a two-run single.
Kyle Gibson would love to see some of that run support tonight as he gets the start for the Twins.
The right-hander yielded five runs over five innings of a loss to the San Francisco Giants on May 23, but bounced back in a big way on Wednesday versus Texas. Gibson held the Rangers scoreless for six innings, scattering six hits and striking out four without a walk. However, he did not factor into a 1-0 loss.
Gibson, 26, is 4-4 with a 4.18 ERA, but has pitched to a 7.77 ERA in five road assignments. He is set to face the Brewers for the first time.
The Twins have won five in a row over the Brewers, including a four-game sweep of last season's home-and-home series. This 2014 set will shift to Minnesota for two games beginning on Wednesday.
[SportsNetwork.com]
