MLB Insiders - Milwaukee Brewers

The Pirates host the Milwaukee Brewers in a three game series beginning Tuesday night at PNC Park. Left-hander Paul Maholm will be on the hill for the Bucs. The Brewers will toss lefty Manny Parra.

The struggling Brewers look to avoid matching their longest road skid in almost 16 years when they open a three-game series against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday night.

Manny Parra (1-2, 5.03 ERA) makes his first career start against Pittsburgh on Monday. He allowed one earned run and seven hits through 6 2-3 innings of a 6-4 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday.

Paul Maholm (2-4, 4.94) takes the ball for the Pirates looking to bounce back after allowing four runs and 11 hits in six innings of a 5-1 loss at St. Louis on Wednesday. The left-hander is 2-2 with a 3.98 ERA in five career starts against the Brewers.

After the Brewers lost 11-7 Sunday to be swept in a three-game series by Boston, left fielder Ryan Braun questioned the approach his teammates had in playing the defending world champions.

"I almost felt like this series, we didn't expect to win," Braun said.

"We were competing; I know everybody tried hard. But it's not about trying hard. You've got to expect to win. I almost feel like we never really expected to win any of these games. I just kind of had that feeling.

"It's just a feeling. Every time we were winning, I just didn't feel we expected to win. It was like we were just content to be there and compete. I don't think we necessarily expected to win."

The loss dropped the Brewers into the division cellar, already seven games behind the first-place Chicago Cubs. With 12 losses in 17 games this month, the Brewers already have had losing streaks of six and five games.

The Brewers had leads in both of the final two games of the interleague series but Braun didn't get the feeling his teammates expected a positive outcome.

"Obviously, they're a great team," he said, referring to the Red Sox. "It's a good gauge of where we're at when we can go out and compete with those guys. For us, as a team, our goal can't be to compete. Our goal has to be to win."

--1B Prince Fielder showed signs of breaking loose at the plate over the weekend in Boston, going 5-for-12 with three doubles and a home run. Over his last six games, Fielder is batting .450.

--The Brewers have committed at least one error in five of their last six games and have 11 errors in their last 11 games.

--RHP Carlos Villanueva has lost all four of his starts on the road, going 0-4 with an 11.09 ERA (23 earned runs in 18 2/3 innings).

--Of the Brewers' 43 home runs, 29 have come with the bases empty, including 12 of the last 15.

--1B Prince Fielder, LF Ryan Braun and reserve OF Tony Gwynn Jr. were used in the DH role in the three-game interleague series in Boston over the weekend. They combined to go 2-for-13 with no RBIs. Fielder had both hits.

BY THE NUMBERS: 9 -- Consecutive losses on the road after being swept in a three-game weekend series in Boston.

QUOTE TO NOTE: "Everybody's got to do their part. It's not fair to just sit back and wait on one guy to do all the damage, or two guys." -- Manager Ned Yost, referring to the hot streaks of LF Ryan Braun and 1B Prince Fielder.