Instead they travel to face Jason Bay and the red-hot 2006 Pirates for a three-game series beginning on Monday night. Since PNC Park opened in 2001, it's been a house of horrors for the Brewers, who are 15-34 there, including 0-4 this season.
The numbers this year -- at home and on the road -- aren't pretty. Pittsburgh has won six of the last seven games between the two teams, and Pirates batters are hitting .317 against Brewers pitchers this season, with 24 doubles, 15 home runs and 67 runs scored in 10 games.
The Brewers' 21-38 road record is second-worst in the National League, behind only Pittsburgh's 14-45 mark (the Pirates are 30-28 at home). The Brewers have played six series away from Miller Park since the All-Star break and have lost all six, each by a 2-1 margin.
"I don't think a lot of guys in here are tied up in stats, but I glanced at the home and road record, and it's pretty obvious," said reliever Matt Wise, who insisted after Sunday's loss that the Brewers "have to get [to Pittsburgh] and sweep them. Not just win the series, but sweep them."
The Brewers will send to the mound Dave Bush, who hasn't been the same pitcher on the road this season. He is 5-4 at Miller Park with a 3.65 ERA and a .208 opponents' batting average, compared with 3-4, 5.80 and .307 on the road.
Milwaukee will be looking to rebound from Sunday's 7-4 loss at Atlanta, a game that turned on a seventh-inning error charged to usually sound second baseman Tony Graffanino.
"All three games, we played well," Graffanino said. "Obviously, we let today get away. But whatever our road record is, it's all in the past, anyway. We like our team, we like how we're playing. If we keep going out there and giving the effort we gave in the three games [in Atlanta], keeping ourselves in positions to win, I think we're going to be OK."
The Pirates are coming off a three-game sweep of the first-place Cardinals, who were outscored in the series, 17-3.
Pitching matchup
MIL: RHP Dave Bush (8-8, 4.67 ERA)
Bush has won each of his last two starts, holding the Rockies and Cubs to three runs on eight hits in 14 combined innings, with one walk and eight strikeouts. All three runs scored on Aramis Ramirez's three-run home run in Bush's last start, when he started with 5 1/3 no-hit innings against the Cubs.
PIT: RHP Victor Santos (4-7, 5.58 ERA)
Santos is making a spot start in place of Shawn Chacon, who has been sidelined by a right knee injury. Santos went 3-7 with a 4.89 ERA in 14 starts before going on the disabled list on June 18 with a rotator cuff injury.
Player to watch
Corey Hart drew a pair of walks on Sunday, but he also struck out twice and is hitless in his last 18 at-bats. Since manager Ned Yost announced that Hart would see the majority of starts in right field over the slumping Geoff Jenkins, Hart is 0-for-7 with three called strikeouts. "Just like anybody else, it takes time to get adjusted," Yost said.