Giants Open Four Game Series At Scuffling Brewers

The Giants continue their 11-game road trip, looking to get back on the winning track against a Milwaukee Brewers team scuffling below .500.

(Sports Network) - While the Milwaukee Brewers have been running in place for the last 10 games, an unsuccessful nine-game stretch for the San Francisco Giants has the club in danger of falling below .500.

The Giants will try to avoid a ninth loss in 10 games this afternoon while the Brewers aim for the start of a win streak in the opener of a four-game series at Miller Park.

San Francisco's recent run of losses has dropped the club to 41-40 and a season-high 7 1/2 games out of first-place in the National League West. It began an 11-game road trip with three losses in four games to Colorado, including a 4-3 setback in 15 innings on Sunday.

The Giants rallied from three runs down in the eighth inning to force extra innings, getting back-to-back homers from Nate Schierholtz and Andrew Torres, whose solo home run was of the inside-the-park variety and was one of his four hits on the day. Travis Ishikawa later tied the game with an RBI single, but Todd Helton lofted a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 15th inning to give the Rockies the victory.

"We were down three runs and came back on them and I told them how proud I was of how hard they fought and how hard they grinded trying to win that ballgame," said Giants' skipper Bruce Bochy, whose club has also lost nine of its last 12 on the road.

Bochy's club will aim to rebound behind Jonathan Sanchez, but the left-hander hasn't pitched longer than 5 1/3 innings in any of his last three starts and is coming off a setback to the Dodgers on Wednesday. He gave up five runs -- four earned -- on six hits and two walks over five innings of an 8-2 setback.

The 27-year-old is 6-6 with a 3.26 earned run average on the season and 0-1 with an 8.31 ERA in eight career meetings with the Brewers, four of those starts.

Milwaukee, which has alternated wins and losses over its last 10 games, will also be aiming to recover from a setback on Sunday, but it lost more than the game versus St. Louis. All-Star Yovani Gallardo left after just 2 2/3 innings due to a left oblique strain and will be further evaluated on Monday.

Without their right-hander, the Brewers dropped a 7-1 contest to the Cardinals in a contest that featured Corey Hart's 19th homer of the season as well as a pair of errors by shortstop Alcides Escobar on consecutive plays in the third inning.

"We gave them five unearned runs today," said Brewers manager Ken Macha. "You get pretty good counsel on how the season goes, and a team that plays the most consistent, solid baseball is one that's going to win."

Hart, who was also selected to the Mid-Summer Classic on Sunday, extended his hitting streak to 19 games, a span in which he is hitting .358 (29-for-81) with a pair of homers and 19 RBI. He is 3-for-8 lifetime versus Sanchez.

The Brewers start Dave Bush this afternoon and the right-hander had won back- to-back starts before a setback to the Astros on Wednesday, his first loss since May 21. Bush allowed two runs on five hits and five walks over six innings of a 5-1 defeat.

The 30-year-old fell to 3-6 with a 4.43 ERA this season and is 1-2 with a 4.75 ERA in six career meetings with the Giants, four of those starts.

These two clubs split six meetings at Miller Park last season.