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MILWAUKEE — For most of the season Saints Cheap Jerseys , the Milwaukee Brewers‘ bullpen has been the team’s anchor, slamming the door on victory after victory as the Brewers walked what manager Craig Counsell called a “high wire act.”

Now, though, the relievers are getting some breathing room thanks to a suddenly dominant starting rotation and when the Brewers open a three-game weekend series Friday night against the Philadelphia Phillies at Miller Park, they’ll sit atop the NL Central, 1 1/2 games ahead of the second-place Chicago Cubs.

Milwaukee’s starters have allowed no more than one run in four straight games and have combined for a 2.55 ERA over their last 12 despite the absence of right-hander Zach Davies, who’s out for a second time this season with shoulder soreness, and right-hander Jimmy Nelson, who’s yet to throw a pitch this season after suffering a shoulder injury last September.

“Our pitching has been outstanding all year,” outfielder Lorenzo Cain said. “The starting pitching, bullpen, have pretty much been carrying our team for the most part.

“We definitely need to step up as an offense and try to score some more runs. We’re putting too much pressure on our pitchers as a whole. They’ve been outstanding Mikkel Boedker Jersey , have been holding the fort down for the team and doing a great job all year long.”

The offense fared well last weekend against the Phillies. Milwaukee scored 12 runs in each of the first two contests of the three-game set and tagged right-hander Jake Arrieta (5-4, 2.97 ERA), who gets the start Friday night, for four runs over 5 1/3 innings Saturday.

The veteran right-hander was off to a good start in his first season with Philadelphia but has allowed nine earned runs in his last two starts, spanning 11 1/3 innings.

He stands a good chance to snap out of that funk at Miller Park, where he’s 3-0 with a 2.03 ERA in five career starts and is 8-5 with a 2.96 ERA in 16 career starts against the Brewers, including last weekend’s clunker.

That loss stretched Philadelphia’s losing streak to four games but the Phillies have won three of four since, including a 9-3 victory Thursday afternoon against the Rockies.

The victory marked a breakthrough for Philadelphia’s offense which had gone 257 innings without scoring more than three runs in a frame, hadn’t scored more than six in a game since May 19 and recorded at least 10 hits only once since May 17.

“The process has been there,” first baseman Rhys Hoskins said. “Sometimes it just feels like every break doesn’t go our way. We know that we’re capable of (high-scoring innings) every time we step on the field. But it’s nice to see it finally happen.”

The Phillies’ bats will try to stay hot against Brewers’ starter Brent Suter (6-4, 4.61 ERA), who held Philadelphia to three runs over five innings in his last outing.

The left-hander has earned a victory in four of his last five starts. He is 1-0 with a 3.27 ERA in two starts versus the Phillies.

MILWAUKEE — Ryan Braun is expected to be back in Milwaukee and available Thursday night when the Brewers open a four-game series with the St. Louis Cardinals at Miller Park.

Braun left the team Thursday morning for Los Angeles Tim Heed Jersey , where he received a cryotherapy injection in his right thumb — a procedure he has undergone four times since first receiving treatment on the thumb following the 2014 season.

“It started bugging him the last couple of days so he flew out (Thursday) morning),” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. “It’s something that he expects from time to time. When it starts (bothering him), we try to get in front of it and knock it out right away.”

Braun was expected to miss Milwaukee’s game Wednesday night at Pittsburgh, but Mother Nature made the point moot as rain forced cancellation of the finale of a three-game series with the Pirates.

As a result, the Brewers will take the field Thursday virtually tied with the Chicago Cubs for first place in the National League Central with the Cardinals lingering 4 1/2 games behind.

St. Louis will try to cut into that deficit behind right-hander Carlos Martinez (3-3, 2.73 ERA), who has struggled since returning from the disabled list back on June 5.

In three starts since then, Martinez is 0-1 with a 7.11 ERA. He struck out 15 while walking 18 in 12 2/3 innings — failing to get past the fifth in any of those outings — while opponents have batted .306 against him with a .908 OPS.

“He’s got to do something different, I know,” manager Mike Matheny admitted. “(Pitching coach Mike) Maddux has talked to him about getting locked in. It just looks different. We need him to be like he can be.”

Martinez was off to a strong start before the injury. He bounced back from a rough season-opening outing against the New York Mets to post a 0.99 ERA over his next seven starts. He still had a 1.77 ERA after the Minnesota Twins tagged him for four runs over five innings in a 7-1 loss on May 8 but was placed on the disabled list the next day with a strained forearm.

“Right when he got hurt, he was as good as anybody in the league,” said Matheny. “We’ve just got to get him back there Tomas Hertl Jersey , that’s all.

Martinez has faced Milwaukee twice this season, dominating the Brewers in each appearance. He held them to a run over six innings in a 5-3 victory on April 10 in St. Louis and fell two outs short of a complete game shutout on April 4 at Miller Park, where he is 4-4 with a 2.36 ERA in 16 career appearances, including 10 starts.

Overall, he’s 6-4 with a 1.95 ERA in his career against Milwaukee and has held the Brewers to two runs or fewer in 10 of his last 14 starts against the Brewers.

Because of the rainout in Pittsburgh, left-hander Brent Suter (7-4, 4.30) will get an extra day of rest and start for Milwaukee on Thursday, with Junior Guerra, Chase Anderson and Jhoulys Chacin rounding out the series.

Suter is 1-0 with a 3.48 ERA in two starts against St. Louis this season, and 1-2 with a 4.10 ERA in eight career appearances (four starts) against the Cardinals..