The Pittsburgh Pirates have lost six straight games and hand the ball to Wil Crowe (0-4, 7.26 ERA) for his ninth appearance (eighth start) of the season. The team has won only two of the games he's been involved in and Crowe was tagged with eight runs on eight hits in four innings of a 10-5 loss at Kansas City in his last start.

The Milwaukee Brewers counter with Adrian Houser (4-5, 3.66 ERA) who has allowed a total of only two runs over his last three starts, covering 15 1/3 innings of work. Houser has posted a 1.83 ERA in four day starts on the season.

The Brewers have won eight of their last nine games, covering the runline in each win.

8* play on Milwaukee Brewers -1.5.