The Brewers travel to Houston to take on the Astros in a three-game series. This year against the Astros, the Brewers are 11-4 overall and 4-2 at Minute Maid Park in Houston. The Brewers start the series one game behind the Cubs for first place in the NL Central. The Cubs face the Reds at Wrigley Field for a three-game series starting Monday as well. The Reds will be throwing Bronson Arroyo, Aaron Harang and Tom Shearn while the Cubs counter with Rich Hill, Carlos Zambrano and Ted Lilly. Zambrano and Lilly will be pitching on three days rest this week like Ben Sheets on Tuesday. The Reds are 7-5 against the Cubs in 2007.Pitching match ups:
Monday - 7:05 PM CDT:
RHP Yovani Gallardo (8-4, 3.99) vs. RHP Matt Albers (4-8, 5.79)
Gallardo has not given up a run in his last two starts. That includes Gallardo's only career start against the Astros. In that start, Gallardo pitched seven scoreless innings and gave up six hits while striking out five. No Astro player had more than one hit against Gallardo in that outing. Gallardo's ERA on the road this year is 5.85 but that number is skewed a little bit by a very bad outing against the Rockies at Coors Field. This will be Gallardo's first start at Minute Maid Field.
Albers will be the first of three rookie starters to face the Brewers in this series. He picked up a quality start against the Cubs in his last outing by pitching six innings and giving up three runs. However, Albers picked up the loss as the Astros only put up two runs on the board for him. In the start before that, Albers faced Gallardo and the Brewers and was charged with the loss. He gave up seven runs in three innings of work. Albers is 0-1 with a 8.10 ERA in three appearances (two starts) against the Brewers this year. At Minute Park Field this season, Albers has an ERA of 3.48 compared to 7.53 on the road. J.J. Hardy, Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun all have homered against Albers this year.
Tuesday - 7:05 PM CDT:
RHP Ben Sheets (12-5, 3.78) vs. RHP Felipe Paulino (0-0, 11.25)
Sheets is being moved one up because he only threw 50 pitches against the Reds in his last start. The Brewers' ace gave up four runs in the first inning and only lasted three innings while giving up five runs. This year against the Astros, Sheets is 1-0 with a 2.84 ERA in three starts. Sheets is 10-8 with a 3.74 ERA in 23 career starts against the Astros including three complete games. Ty Wigginton is 9-20 with two homers and seven RBI in his career against Sheets.
Paulino will making be his first major league start. He has made two relief appearances in the bigs, one of which was against the Brewers at Miller Park. In that appearance, Paulino gave up six hits and five runs including three homers in three innings of work. Bill Hall, Corey Hart and Geoff Jenkins hit those home runs. Jenkins had two hits against Paulino during that outing. Paulino was called up from Double-A earlier this month.
Wednesday - 7:05 PM CDT:
RHP Dave Bush (11-10, 5.34) vs. RHP Juan Gutierrez (1-1, 6.10)
Bush has been knocked around pretty hard in his last two outings. He has given up a total of 12 runs in five innings of work in his last two starts which were against the Reds and Pirates. In 2007 against the Astros, Bush is 2-1 with a 5.91 ERA in four appearances (three starts). Bush is 4-1 with a 3.75 ERA in eight career appearances (seven starts) against the Astros. Lance Berkman is 9-23 with two doubles and three RBI in his career against Bush
Gutierrez will making his second career start and first appearance against the Brewers. In his only other start in the bigs, Gutierrez pitched five innings and gave up 11 hits and six runs in a loss to the Nationals in that outing. In his last appearance, Gutierrez picked up a win against the Pirates out of the bullpen by pitching two scoreless and hitless innings in relief of Wandy Rodriguez.
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