Twins 7, Brewers 2: Another dreadful showing allows Minnesota to finish four-game sweep

It took the Milwaukee Brewers less than four weeks to go from leading the National League Central Division by 5½ games to falling into third place.

That’s how bad it has been.

The Brewers’ long slide continued Thursday night at Miller Park with a listless 7-2 loss to Minnesota, allowing the suddenly alive Twins to sweep the four-game, home-and-home interleague series.

In losing their fifth consecutive game, and 17th in 26 games since the all-star break, the Brewers not only fell two games behind idle Chicago but a game behind the surging St. Louis Cardinals, who won their sixth in a row to take over second place.

With the Brewers’ offense mired in a prolonged funk, the last thing they needed was their starting pitcher digging a big early hole. But that’s exactly what right-hander Zach Davies did, allowing three runs in the second inning and three more in the third.

It was an unforeseen poor showing by Davies, who had been in a groove for some time. Over his previous four outings, Davies fashioned a 0.94 earned run average with only three earned runs allowed over 28 2/3 innings.

BOX SCORE: Twins 7, Brewers 2

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The Twins, who sold off pieces before the July 31 trade deadline, are back in the thick of the AL wild-card race after outscoring the Brewers, 27-10, in the four-game sweep. 

The Brewers scored a run in the second on Keon Broxton’s opposite-field homer and another in the third on Jesus Aguilar’s bases-loaded walk off lefty Dietrich Enns, making his big-league debut. Twins manager Paul Molitor pulled the plug on Enns right there and Alan Busenitz took over, getting Manny Pina to ground into a rally-killing double play on a grounder down the third base line that Miguel Sano deftly gloved to his backhand side.

Davies was charged with another run in the sixth, though it scored on a RBI single by Joe Mauer off reliever Oliver Drake. In 5 2/3 innings, Davies allowed a career-high 11 hits, seven runs (six earned) and two walks.

As was the case throughout the series, the Brewers did nothing offensively over the second half of the game. As bad as their offense has been in general since the break, it has been particularly woeful in the late innings.

Next up for the Brewers are the Cincinnati Reds, who bring the worst pitching staff in the majors (5.22 ERA) to town for a three-game series. If the Brewers have trouble scoring runs against that group, it would not bode well for the remainder of the season.

BEHIND THE BOX SCORE

C Stephen Vogt has made tremendous progress in his recovering from a sprained left knee and is expected to go out on minor-league rehab this weekend. He is expected to need a week or so to be ready to rejoin the Brewers, however.

“He’s going to have to make a couple of different stops, with scheduling stuff,” manager Craig Counsell said. “We’re still targeting the (next) road trip as being possible. (Early on trip) is the best-case scenario. There’s a little more caution with this one. He’s got to be able to catch and then the next day, catch again. That’s a little more significant.”

* RHP Chase Anderson (oblique strain) will make his second minor-league rehab start Sunday for Class AAA Colorado Springs against New Orleans. Anderson is scheduled to make one more start in the minors after that before rejoining the Brewers’ rotation.

STAT SHEET

* Ryan Braun extended his hitting streak against the Twins to 14 games with a single in the first inning. Over those 14 games, Braun has batted .540 (27 for 50) over that stretch. 

* Twins shortstop Jorge Polanco, who entered the series batting .217, took apart Brewers pitching in the four games. Polanco went 10 for 15 (.667) with two doubles, a triple and five RBI, boosting his average to .239.

TAKEAWAY

The Brewers spent 3½ months building something special, unexpectedly taking a 5½ game lead in the NL Central into the all-star break. In a span of just under four weeks, they have torn it apart, going 9-17 to fall into third place. With their home-run pace slowed greatly, the Brewers have been incapable of generating rallies.

RECORD

This year: 59-58 (31-29 home; 28-29 away)

Last year: 52-65

ATTENDANCE

Thursday: 33,904

2017 total: 1,836,050 (30,601 avg.)

Last year: 1,737,840 (28,964 avg.)

NEXT GAME

Friday: Brewers vs. Reds, 7:10 p.m. Milwaukee RHP Jimmy Nelson (9-5, 3.24) vs. Cincinnati RHP Homer Bailey (3-6, 8.86). TV: FS Wisconsin. Radio: AM-620.