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A home series against the Atlanta Braves may be just what the Milwaukee Brewers needed to get their season back on track.
Milwaukee will try to finish off a three-game sweep of Atlanta on Thursday when the teams square off at Miller Park.
Oddsmakers from Sportsbook.com have made Milwaukee -111 money line favorites (MLB Odds) for tonight’s game, the over/under has been set at 9.5 total runs (Matchup). Current public betting information shows that 64% of bets for this game have been placed on Atlanta +101 (View MLB Bet Percentages).
The Brewers (26-27) beat the Braves 1-0 on Wednesday on Rickie Weeks’ RBI triple in the eighth inning. The win was the third straight and fourth in five games for Milwaukee, which now has a chance to move back to .500 for the first time since it was 20-20 on May 14.
"It felt good to get that run," said Weeks, who had two of Milwaukee’s three hits. "It felt good to get the win, period."
A surprise contender in the NL Central last season, Milwaukee has struggled early on in 2008 and is mired in fourth place in the division. The Brewers, who got Ned Yost his 400th win as their manager, won for the first time this season when scoring fewer than three runs.
"We’ve been playing some pretty good baseball here and there, but we’ve been coming up short," Weeks said. "When you get wins like this, some momentum here and there, it helps. A lot of times when you’re not hitting well, you’re not pitching well or you’re not playing defense well, when you come away with wins, it helps the next day."
Facing the Braves (28-25) at home has certainly helped steer Milwaukee in the right direction. Atlanta, which owns the best home record in baseball at 22-7, is a major league-worst 6-18 on the road.
The Braves have lost 18 straight one-run games on the road and are just 2-14 in one-run games this season.
"We get some runners on and we’re one pitch away from a homer or a gapper or something, and we’re just not getting it," manager Bobby Cox said. "I don’t know why. We’re a great hitting team."
Chipper Jones, who leads the majors with a .418 batting average, extended his hitting streak to 10 games with a single in the third and has a hit in 43 of 49 games this season.
Jorge Campillo (1-0, 0.86 ERA), who has never faced Milwaukee, will try to help the Braves avoid the sweep on Thursday.
After starting the season in the bullpen, Campillo has thrown 10 scoreless innings in two starts as he’s walked nine, struck out 10 and yielded five hits. However, he lasted just four innings and 59 pitches in his last start on Saturday because of blisters on his pitching hand, four days after going six innings in a 6-2 win over the Mets.
The Brewers counter with Seth McClung (2-1, 3.55), who made his first start since June 18, 2006 on Saturday, giving up two runs in five innings of a 5-2 win in Washington. McClung, who replaced the ineffective Carlos Villanueva in the rotation, had not won as a starter since May 12, 2006.
"It’s probably unlike any start I’ve ever had (due) to the fact that I was getting ahead, staying ahead, being able to execute my pitches," McClung said. "I’ve learned so much since I’ve toed the rubber as a starter."
McClung went 1-1 with a 3.54 ERA in 11 appearances out of the bullpen before making the start. He made two relief appearances against the Braves last season, allowing one unearned run in one total inning and going 0-1.
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