Milwaukee (49-44) at Colorado (44-48)

The Milwaukee Brewers are still waiting to show off the newest addition to a bolstered relief corps.

With Francisco Rodriguez yet to debut, the Brewers continue their four-game set with the Colorado Rockies on Friday night.

Shortly after the NL’s win in Tuesday’s All-Star game, Milwaukee acquired Rodriguez - a four-time All-Star and single-season saves record holder - from the New York Mets for two players to be named. Prior to Thursday’s opener, Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said the plan was for John Axford(notes) to be used in a save situation that night, but added Rodriguez will get an opportunity to close.

Axford has 23 saves in 25 chances while Rodriguez has converted 23 of 26 opportunities this year.

“I’ve been closing all my career, my mindset is as a closer, but we’ve got a good closer here, too,” Rodriguez said. “How it’s going to play out, it’s up to the manager. I just have to be ready when they make the phone call to the pen and call my name.”

Roenicke also said his choice of closer could come down to individual situations and matchups, saying with Rodriguez “we’ve added a great piece to our bullpen.”

It became a moot point as Colorado broke a 2-all tie with four runs in the fourth inning and went on to a 12-3 victory.

Filling in for the injured Carlos Gonzalez(notes), leadoff hitter Ryan Spilborghs(notes) went 4 for 6 with a homer, drove in four and scored three runs for Colorado, which set a season high with 20 hits. The Rockies (44-48) won for the third time in games after a five-game skid.

“I don’t know if we could have done it much better offensively than we did tonight,” Rockies manager Jim Tracy said. “We drove in runners from third with less than two outs, we got two-out base hits, we moved runners along.”

All-Star MVP Prince Fielder(notes) had an RBI double in the first inning for the Brewers (49-44), who lost for the 11th time in 14 road games. They are an NL-worst 16-30 away from home.

Ryan Braun(notes) returned to the Milwaukee lineup with two hits, extending his career-best hitting streak to 23 games. Braun had missed the last eight games before the All-Star break with a left calf strain.

With a hit Friday, Braun will tie Dave May in 1973 for the second-longest hitting streak in Brewers history. Hall of Famer Paul Molitor holds the club record by hitting in 39 straight in 1987.

Chris Narveson(notes) (6-5, 4.75 ERA) gets the start for Milwaukee, looking for his third win in four starts.

The left-hander surrendered two runs and seven hits in six innings of a 5-4 win over Cincinnati on July 7. Narveson has no record and a 5.11 ERA in four games - two starts -against Colorado.

Coming off the shortest outing of his rookie season, Juan Nicasio(notes) (3-2, 4.91) will take the ball for the Rockies.

The right-hander lasted just 2 1-3 innings at Atlanta on July 7, when he allowed five runs and seven hits in Colorado’s 6-3 defeat.

Nicasio, who has yet to face the Brewers, is 3-0 with a 2.08 ERA in four starts at Coors Field. In his last start there, he limited Kansas City to three hits in eight innings of a 9-0 rout on July 1.

The Rockies have won 14 of the last 17 matchups with the Brewers in Denver.