07/25 Padres Preview: Game 103 @ Milwaukee

The Padres will wrap up their four-game set in Milwaukee today and look to win their first series on the road since mid-May. Hopefully Edinson Volquez can get the job done, much like he did during his last outing against the Brewers. He had probably his best start of the season when the Brew Crew traveled to San Diego for a series at Petco Park in April, holding them scoreless through seven strong innings. Volquez wasn't too sharp his last time out, giving up three runs while throwing 107 pitches in five innings of work.

He won that last start thanks to a solid offensive effort from the Padres, something they've been better at since coming out of the All Star Break. Last night, however, they had trouble putting runs together. Nick Hundley's solo shot provided the only run for San Diego and they were unable to secure the series win in Game 3. But tonight they'll try to get back on track against Yovani Gallardo.

Gallardo will try to keep trade talks out of his mind as he pitches the series finale for Milwaukee. This will be his second-to-last start before the trade deadline at the end of July, but he will try to focus on getting the Brewers the split against the Padres. He's won each of his last two decisions and most recently threw 6 1/3 innings of five-hit ball against the Marlins. Prior to that, he had gone 1-2 while racking up an 8.53 ERA in four starts. He is 4-2 all-time against San Diego, including a victory earlier this year at Petco Park. He gave up three runs on eight hits while walking five through 6 2/3 innings of work, but still came out with a win because of a poor pitching performance from his opponent that day, Clayton Richard.

Both teams have a lot to play for in this series finale. The Padres have struggled to stay in the win column since their surge to second place in the division last month, but they've played .500 ball since the All Star Break and are scrapping to get back out of the NL West cellar. The Brewers are having an unexpectedly bad season that was made worse with the Ryan Braun news earlier this week and could use some good news, in the form of a series split. The Padres will hop on a plane tonight to head to Arizona while the Brewers will fly to Colorado for their next series. Hopefully the former is a happy flight.