Brewers: 1-game winning streak snapped with 5-1 loss at Colorado
By Phil Watson
Some matchups are described as heavyweight fights.
The weekend series between the Milwaukee Brewers and Colorado Rockies at Coors Field might best be described as two visually impaired small children flailing pillows at each other.
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The Brewers, who came into Denver on a six-game losing streak, took the opener of the series Friday night, handing the Rockies their fifth straight loss and their ninth in 10 games.
But Colorado (29-39) bounced back Saturday, getting a solid start from right-hander Chad Bettis (3-2), who allowed just five hits and Adam Lind’s solo homer in the sixth inning, en route to a 5-1 victory.
It was Milwaukee’s seventh loss in eight games and left them at 8-11 in June.
That was despite a decent outing from right-hander Kyle Lohse (3-9), who actually got credit for a quality start (No, really!!!), allowing three runs on four hits and a walk in six innings, while striking out five.
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The game got out of reach in the seventh with Michael Blazek had a rare poor outing, giving up two runs.
Colorado got a run in the second on a sacrifice fly by Michael McKenry after Nolan Arenado had doubled and moved up on a groundout.
Charlie Blackmon’s two-run homer, his ninth of the season, in the fifth made it a 3-0 game. It was the 17th homer Lohse has allowed this year, second only to Colorado’s Kyle Kendrick in the National League.
The Brewers (25-45) got their lone offensive “outburst” in the sixth when Lind belted a first-pitch changeup the other way over the wall in left-center field for his 10th homer of the season.
But otherwise, Bettis was outstanding. Tommy Kahnle pitched 1.2 innings of scoreless relief and former Brewer All-Star John Axford worked the ninth in a non-save situation.
Gerardo Parra was the lone batter in Milwaukee’s lineup with more than one hit, going 2-for-4. The Brewers were 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position.
Jean Segura singled and stole second with one out in the third, but Parra struck out and Ryan Braun followed, after Segura moved up on a wild pitch, with a strikeout of his own.
In the seventh, Hernan Perez—playing in place of Aramis Ramirez at third base—smacked a double and Martin Maldonado—giving Jonathan Lucroy a day off behind the plate—worked a walk.
That came after a wild pitch moved Perez to third.
Kahnle came on to replace Bettis with Lucroy coming on to hit for Lohse. But Lucroy bounced into a 5-4-3 double play to end the threat.
The Rockies got insurance in the seventh on RBI singles by Ben Paulsen and Blackmon to push the lead to 5-1.
Francisco Rodriguez struck out the side around a single in the eighth for Milwaukee.
Lohse was pleased with his outing, other than a changeup he left up that Blackmon socked for his homer.
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“That’s what I’ve been looking for,” Lohse told MLB.com. “I felt like I’ve thrown the ball close to that several times before and just have been on the wrong side of some big innings. But [Saturday], I was able to get ahead of guys, which was a big emphasis. I’d been picking around early in counts, but [Saturday] I was able to go at them for the most part.”
Lohse had posted an 8.31 ERA in his previous five starts, so it was definitely progress.
The finale of the series is Sunday at 3:10 p.m. Central, with Matt Garza (4-8, 5.07) taking on left-hander Chris Rusin (2-2, 5.14).
Garza is 2-4 lifetime against Colorado with a 5.25 ERA in six starts and 36 innings, striking out 29 with a 1.194 WHIP. That includes a 7.36 ERA in two career starts at Coors Field and his April 7 start at Miller Park, when he allowed four runs on eight hits in five innings of a 5-2 loss.
Rusin, who was claimed off waivers from the Chicago Cubs last September by the Rockies, is 0-2 with a 6.39 ERA in three starts and 12.2 innings against Milwaukee, striking out eight with a 1.421 WHIP. He last faced the Brewers while with the Cubs on Sept. 18, 2013, at Miller Park, giving up six runs on four hits in four innings of a 5-2 loss.
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