Minnesota @ Milwaukee preview

Last Meeting ( Jun 24, 2010 ) Minnesota 0, Milwaukee 5

THE STORY: The Minnesota Twins look to rebound from a minor bump in the road and continue their hot play when they begin a three-game interleague series against the Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park on Friday. Minnesota had won eight straight games and 15 of 17 before dropping the final two contests of its three-game set at San Francisco. The Twins are expected to have reinforcements as Jim Thome and Joe Nathan are likely to be activated from the disabled list prior to the series opener. Milwaukee has struggled of late, losing seven of its last 10 games.

TV: 8:10 p.m. ET, FSN North (Minnesota), FSN Wisconsin (Milwaukee)

PITCHING MATCHUP: Twins RH Scott Baker (5-4, 3.24 ERA) vs. Brewers LH Randy Wolf (5-4, 3.15 ERA)

Baker will try to extend his personal winning streak to four games. The 29-year old is coming off a brilliant performance against San Diego on Saturday in which he limited the Padres to four hits and struck out 10 over eight scoreless innings. Baker is 4-3 in seven career starts against Milwaukee.

Wolf is 2-0 with a 2.03 ERA over his last six outings, allowing more than two earned runs just once during that span. The veteran lefthander yielded two runs over seven innings in a 4-2 victory at Boston on Saturday. Wolf lost his only career start against Minnesota in 2002 while with Philadelphia.

ABOUT THE BREWERS (41-35): Despite its current slump, Milwaukee has won four of its last six games at home. Ryan Braun enters Friday with a career-high 14-game hitting streak. Braun is the only player in the major leagues this year with three streaks of 10 games or more. The Brewers have dropped just three of their 12 series at Miller Park this season and have yet to lose consecutive games at home.

ABOUT THE TWINS (32-41): The additions of Thome and Nathan figure to help Minnesota continue its turnaround from an awful start to the season. Thome, who is seven homers shy of 600 for his career, has been sidelined since June 2 with a strained left quadriceps. The Twins' former closer, Nathan has been out with a strained right flexor since May 24. Michael Cuddyer went 3-for-4 in Thursday's 2-1 loss to extend his hitting streak to 12 games.

FINAL PITCH: Milwaukee pitchers Shaun Marcum and Marco Estrada both picked off a runner at first base in Wednesday's loss to Tampa Bay. The last time the Brewers recorded two pickoffs in a game was against Cleveland on June 9, 1994, when Bill Wegman nabbed two runners at second.