MLB News: Brewers look to keep winning at home

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MILWAUKEE - Miller Park is turning out to be a nice cocoon for the Milwaukee Brewers – and they’ll try for back-to-back home wins over the San Diego Padres tonight. The Brewers are 9-5 at home, but they have the Majors’ worst road record at 6-15.

Milwaukee is batting .298 at home, and just .218 on the road. They’ve homered 17 times in 14 games at Miller Park – but in 21 road contests, they’ve only had 16 leave the yard. The Brewers batted just .179 on their most recent road trip, and were shut out three times. But in the Miller Park cocoon, they had eight hits last night in a 4-3 win over San Diego – and five-of-those-eight hits went for extra bases.

Second baseman Rickie Weeks is especially hot at home. He went 10-for-20 in his last five Miller Park games with three homers, two doubles, a triple, five RBI’s, and six runs scored. Weeks is batting .347 at home – 86 points more than on the road. But at least one Brewer has been doing well regardless of where he plays. That’s starter Shaun Marcum, who hasn’t lost since April second. He takes a 3-1 record to the mound for Milwaukee tonight against Padres left-hander Clayton Richard. The Padres are 14-21. Milwaukee is 15-20 overall.

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Francisco Liriano will pitch tonight for the first time since his no-hitter last week. The left-hander will take the mound for the Minnesota Twins when they host the Detroit Tigers. Twins’ manager Ron Gardenhire had thought about sending Liriano to the bullpen after he built up a 1-4 record and an ERA of over six-and-two thirds. But that all changed last Wednesday night, when Liriano threw the sixth no-hitter in Twins’ history. The Twins hope to end a six-game losing streak. The Tigers are back to .500 after a 10-5 win at Toronto last evening. Rick Porcello, who’s 2-2, will start tonight for Detroit.

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The Chicago Cubs will host Saint Louis tonight. Right-hander Carlos Zambrano will try to win his third consecutive start – and he’ll face former Cubs’ shortstop Ryan Theriot for the first time. Last December, Theriot said he was finally glad to be on the “right side” of the Cub-Cardinal rivalry – and questioned Chicago’s commitment to winning the World Series. Zambrano replied back then that Theriot is now “the enemy.” But Cubs’ skipper Mike Quade doesn’t think the trash-talk will figure into the series all that much. The Cards are the NL Central leaders at 20-15. The Cubs are 15-18. Chris Carpenter, who’s 0-2, will start for the Redbirds tonight.

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The Chicago White Sox will play the Angels in Anaheim. The Sox have won three straight for the first time this season, after an 8-nothing rout at Anaheim last night. John Danks, who’s 0-5, will start for Chicago against Joel Pineiro.

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