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(Sports Network) - CC Sabathia is the left-handed pitcher the Milwaukee Brewers are counting on to break a long postseason drought, but fellow southpaw Manny Parra has made quite a contribution to his team's playoff push.

Parra puts an unbeaten streak of more than two months on the line when he toes the rubber for the Brewers in tonight's opener of a three-game series with the Cincinnati Reds from Miller Park.

The 25-year-old Parra has certainly impressed in his first full major-league season, as evidenced by the 8-2 record and 3.65 earned run average he brings into this evening's tilt. The native Californian has also won seven consecutive decisions since a May 3 setback at Houston, spanning 11 starts and one relief appearance.

Parra has not yielded a run in either of his last two starts, a six-inning no- decision at Arizona on July 3 and a victory at Minnesota on June 28, in which he held the Twins to two hits through seven frames. The rookie tuned up for this game by tossing a scoreless inning out of the bullpen in Monday's 4-3 loss to Colorado.

This will be the first career matchup with the Reds for Parra, who is an outstanding 5-0 with a 2.70 ERA in 10 games (9 starts) at Miller Park this season.

Milwaukee enters this series with a half-game edge on St. Louis in the National League wild card race and are four games back of NL Central leader Chicago at the moment. The Brewers moved in front of the Cardinals with Thursday's 11-1 rout of Colorado, coupled with St. Louis' 4-1 setback at Philadelphia yesterday.

Dave Bush (5-8) led the way for Milwaukee in Thursday's triumph, as the right- hander fanned a career-best 13 Rockies over eight innings and allowed just one run and four hits. All-Star outfielder Ryan Braun helped Bush's cause by going 2-for-5 with three RBI.

Corey Hart, selected by the fans as the final member of the NL squad for next week's All-Star Game, bolstered his credentials with a solo home run. J.J. Hardy added a two-run shot for the Brewers, winners of seven of their last 10, while Gabe Kapler collected three doubles and two RBI on the afternoon.

Cincinnati comes in having won five of its last seven and eight of its previous 12 games, although the Reds lost the first two tests of a three-game set with the first-place Cubs before rebounding with Thursday's 12-7 victory at Wrigley Field.

The Reds socked seven home runs in the finale, two of which came off the bat of catcher David Ross. Ken Griffey Jr. hit his 605th career homer during the game and finished 2-for-4 with four RBI.

Edwin Encarnacion, Brandon Phillips, Adam Dunn and Joey Votto also went deep for Cincinnati, with Ross, Votto and Jeff Keppinger all recording three hits on the day. Phillips and Encarnacion both drove in two runs.

Bronson Arroyo (7-7) benefited from the power barrage, as the Reds right- hander picked up the win despite giving up five runs on seven hits over the first five innings.

Josh Fogg will be hoping for that same kind of offensive support when he takes the mound for Cincy in tonight's opener. The veteran hurler didn't get much in Saturday's start against Washington, as Fogg held the light-hitting Nationals to one run in six innings but wound up with a no-decision in an eventual 3-2 Reds win.

That was Fogg's first appearance since May 31, with the righty spending a little over a month on the disabled list with a back injury that has contributed to his ugly 8.39 ERA over 34 1/3 innings pitched this season.

Fogg's only win this year came at the expense of the Brewers in Miller Park. In that April 9 matchup, he allowed three runs -- one earned -- and four hits over five effective innings. The 31-year-old is 7-4 with a 3.64 ERA in 16 career starts against Milwaukee.

These NL Central foes have split six encounters so far this season, with the Reds taking two of three from the Brewers at Miller Park from April 8-10. The teams are 20-20 against one another since the start of the 2006 campaign.