(SportsNetwork.com) - The Milwaukee Brewers will try to bounce back from just their second road loss of the season on Thursday night when they play the first of four straight against the Cincinnati Reds.
The Brewers won their first two games in St. Louis to begin the week before dropping yesterday's finale 9-2. Matt Garza struggled before exiting in the fourth inning with a right thumb contusion, giving up five runs on five hits with four strikeouts and four walks.
Garza fell to 1-3 and is day-to-day.
"It's been a consistent battle for me so far this year," Garza said. "I don't know if it's me fighting myself or me trying to do too much or what it is, but it needs to stop."
Mark Reynolds and Carlos Gomez homered for Milwaukee, which lost for only the third time in its last 12 games and fell to 11-2 on the road.
Milwaukee was without shortstop Jean Segura, third baseman Aramis Ramirez and outfielder Ryan Braun to stat Wednesday's game, though Segura came into the game in the eighth inning and played the field for the first time since getting accidentally hit in the face by the bat of a warming-up Braun on Saturday.
Segura could start tonight along with Ramirez (bruised left elbow), while Braun is likely to remain out with a strained right oblique.
Marco Estrada will start the opener for the Brewers and won for the first time in three starts with Saturday's 5-3 decision over the Chicago Cubs. He allowed three runs on four hits over 7 2/3 innings, striking out nine without a walk.
The 30-year-old righty is 2-1 with a 2.87 earned run average on the season and 2-3 lifetime versus the Reds with a 3.51 ERA in nine games (5 starts).
The Reds counter with Homer Bailey, who takes the mound two days shy of his 28th birthday and off his first loss since April 3.
Bailey was charged with five runs on nine hits over six innings of a 5-4 defeat to the Atlanta Braves on Friday. He dipped to 1-2 on the year and has a less-than-stellar 6.15 ERA.
The right-handed Bailey is only 3-7 in his career against the rival Brewers with a 5.36 ERA in 16 starts.
Cincinnati has lost four of its last five games a split a rain-shortened two- game set with the Cubs, losing 9-4 on Wednesday.
Starter Tony Cingrani lasted just four innings and 79 pitches, charged with three runs, while Nick Christiani took the loss in relief for yielding two runs across two innings.
"I'm just a little fatigued," said Cingrani. "I was laboring. I don't know what it is about the first inning, I've just got to pitch."
Todd Frazier hit a two-run double and Brayan Pena homered for the Reds.
Cincinnati has gone 13-5 at home versus Milwaukee since the start of the 2012 campaign.
[SportsNetwork.com]
