Pittsburgh @ Milwaukee preview

Last Meeting ( Aug 12, 2011 ) Pittsburgh 2, Milwaukee 7

THE STORY: The Milwaukee Brewers look to continue pulling away from the National League Central pack Saturday afternoon when it hosts the second of three games against Pittsburgh. The Brewers, who own the best home record in baseball at 42-15, rolled to a 7-2 victory in Friday's series opener behind 7 2/3 strong innings from Zack Greinke. The Pirates have lost 14 of their last 17 games to fall out of contention.

TV: 4:10 p.m. ET, FOX

PITCHING MATCHUP: Pirates RH Kevin Correia (12-10, 4.78 ERA) vs. Brewers RH Marco Estrada (2-7, 4.80).

Correia ranks among the National League leaders in wins thanks to excellent run support, but he has not pitched effectively for quite some time. Since getting off to a 5-2 start, he has allowed hitters to post an OPS of .863 against him. Correia is 1-4 in his last six starts while surrendering 29 runs in 28 1/3 innings. He lost both 2011 outings against the Brewers (April 13 and May 15), yielding six runs in each in 10 total innings. Estrada, who has made four spot starts this season but none since May 4, has been thrown back into the rotation with Chris Narveson on the disabled list. The righthander is 1-1 with an unimpressive 5.18 ERA when starting in 2011, but he has pitched four scoreless innings of relief against the Pirates, giving up only one hit while striking out five. Pittsburgh's roster is a combined 2-for-14 (.143) against Estrada, with left fielder Ryan Ludwick going 1-for-2 while with San Diego.

ABOUT THE PIRATES (56-61): Pittsburgh was in a three-way tie for the NL Central lead on July 24, but the team has fallen 11 games back of the division-leading Brewers. A pitching staff that had ranked among the National League leaders in ERA has fallen apart, allowing 10 runs or more four times in its last 14 games and 97 runs overall during that span (6.9 per game). The Pirates' offense has struggled all year long, ranking 27th in the majors with 447 runs scored.

ABOUT THE BREWERS (68-51): Milwaukee has created some distance at the top of what had been a crowded division by winning 14 of 16 games since the last week of July, all against NL Central foes. The Brewers have even improved upon what had been dismal road play, winning five of six on a recent trip to Houston and St. Louis. Though an explosive lineup gets most of the headlines, Milwaukee's recent surge can be attributed to lights-out work from its bullpen, which has been bolstered by the acquisition of Francisco Rodriguez (six holds, 2.25 ERA, 16 strikeouts since coming over from the New York Mets).

FINAL PITCH: Milwaukee first baseman Prince Fielder has hit safely in nine straight games, going 16-for-35 (.457) with three home runs, 13 runs scored and 13 RBIs during that stretch.