(Sports Network) - The Milwaukee Brewers push for their third straight win tonight as they again host the Texas Rangers in the second of a three-game interleague set at Miller Field.
On Friday night the Brewers blasted four home runs against Texas starter Rich Harden, en route to a convincing 6-2 victory, the team's fifth win in six tries. But despite the triumph, Milwaukee still finds itself nine games under .500 on the season and a mere 11-17 at home in 2010.
Corey Hart, Prince Fielder, Ryan Braun and Casey McGehee all had home runs for the home team, while starting pitcher Chris Narveson cruised through seven innings, giving up just two earned runs on six hits for his fifth win of the campaign.
"He kept the ball down, spotted his fastball and his changeup was really working," said Milwaukee manager Ken Macha about his starter's efforts on the hill. "The turnaround was the sixth when (Michael) Young led off with a double and didn't score."
Young recorded a pair of doubles in the loss for Texas, leaders in the American League West despite the setback. Vladimir Guerrero connected on his team-leading 14th home run of the season and Josh Hamilton hit safely in his eighth straight game, although his string of knocking in a run in consecutive games was halted at seven in a row.
Suffering the loss for the Rangers was starter Rich Harden, touched for four home runs for the first time in his career. Harden, who has surrendered the second-most home runs (14) in the AL this season, allowed a total of seven hits and walked three batters over six innings of action.
Making his first-ever appearance against the Brewers tonight, Texas has right- hander Scott Feldman scheduled to take the mound in Milwaukee. Feldman, who has a career mark of 27-27 at the moment, has watched his team alternate wins and losses over the course of his last seven contests. On Monday the six-year man made it through 5 2/3 innings, allowing three earned runs on nine hits, while striking out four in a 4-2 loss to Seattle at home.
Like Feldman, also making his first career appearance against the opposition tonight is Milwaukee left-hander Manny Parra. Now in his fourth year with the Brewers, Parra has started only a handful of games for his club thus far, the last of those coming on Sunday when he made it through 5 1/3 innings to pick up the win against St. Louis on the road. In that outing Parra permitted a pair of runs on two home runs and four hits, not to mention four walks, but he also fanned a season-high 10 batters.
Over the last seven games the Rangers have outscored the opposition by a combined 53-26 margin, thanks in large part to Hamilton and Guerrero. The former has plated a total of 13 and with his four home runs in 25 at-bats has a slugging percentage of 1.040 over the span. Guerrero has not only chipped in with nine RBI, he has also scored seven runs of his own for the club.
Not to be overlooked for the Rangers is Ian Kinsler who, despite being credited with only six total bases in his last 22 at-bats, has scored a team- best 10 runs in seven games.
Hart has given the Milwaukee offense a serious boost in the last six games, connecting on three home runs and forcing in six, while scoring five runs himself. McGehee and Braun have both knocked in five runs in the last six games however, during that same span Fielder has but one RBI for a team that is batting a collective .214.
Both clubs lost two of three in interleague play back in late May. The Rangers are 113-121 all-time versus the NL, while the Brewers are 86-102 in interleague play.