MILWAUKEE BREWERS

Reds 3, Brewers 1: Frustration continues with time running short

Todd Rosiak

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

With time running short in the regular season, and a tough final road swing to Pittsburgh and St. Louis looming, the Milwaukee Brewers simply can't afford to play any more clunkers like the one they turned in Tuesday night.

Listless on offense against a suspect Cincinnati Reds pitching staff and getting another sub-standard start at Miller Park from Chase Anderson, the Brewers bowed quietly, 3-1, to the worst team in the Central Division.

Anderson allowed a two-run home run to José Peraza two batters into the game and the Brewers trailed the rest of the way. The right-hander lasted just 3 2/3 innings and got zero support from an offense that managed just three singles.

With the St. Louis Cardinals winning in Atlanta, Milwaukee's lead in the wild-card standings shrunk to two games. And, with another romp over Arizona, the Chicago Cubs boosted their lead to 3 1/2 games in the division, a commanding margin at this late stage.

"We're going to have to do better than that," manager Craig Counsell. "More pressure has to be put on the other team. There was nothing really happening tonight. I don't know if we really had a significant rally all night."

It was more of the same in the early going for Anderson, who surrendered a leadoff single to Scott Schebler and then the homer to Peraza.

It was the 30th allowed by Anderson this year, most in the National League. He's also the first Brewers pitcher to surrender 30 in a season since Braden Looper allowed a franchise-record 39 in 2009.

Milwaukee got a run back in the second, but it came with a price as Travis Shaw was plunked in the right knee by a 93-mph Michael Lorenzen fastball to open.

Shaw stayed in the game and came around to score on a two-out single to right by Jonathan Schoop and subsequent error by Schebler, but he was lifted an inning later with a right-knee contusion.

"Right on the side of the kneecap," Shaw said. "Hopefully this will respond tomorrow and I'll be able to go."

BOX SCORE: Reds 3, Brewers 1

MLB: Live scoreboard, box scores, standings, statistics

Anderson (9-8) extricated himself from a two-on, nobody-out jam in the third to keep it a 2-1 game. But a one-out walk in the fourth came back to bite him, as a Schebler double to left-center on an 0-2 pitch upped the Reds' lead to 3-1 and ended Anderson's night.

The 3 2/3-inning outing tied for Anderson's shortest of the season, and his 69 pitches his fewest. He's now 5-4 with a 5.03 earned run average in 16 home starts against a 2.74 ERA in 14 starts on the road.

He allowed six hits and two walks with five strikeouts.

"I find it one inning and I can’t repeat it the next inning," Anderson said. "I think that’s something I’ve got to continue to work on, and hopefully I can get that right before the season’s over and we can get into the postseason so I can be someone they can count on to pitch in meaningful games."

Schoop's single was the only offense the Brewers generated against Lorenzen and Sal Romano until the sixth, when Christian Yelich singled to snap a streak of 12 consecutive Milwaukee batters retired.

Yelich later stole second, giving him 20 steals to go with 31 homers and making him just the third player in Brewers history to put up a 30-20 season (Ryan Braun in 2009, '11 and '12 and Tommy Harper in 1970 were the others).

Also, Yelich and Cleveland's José Ramirez are the only two players in the majors this season to compile 30 homers, 20 steals, 90 RBI and score 100 runs.

Keon Broxton, having subbed in for Lorenzo Cain, fanned with two outs to strand Yelich.

The news afterward on Cain was somewhat troubling, with Counsell saying he tweaked an intercostal muscle.

"He took a swing a couple of days ago...and it's been bugging him a little bit," he said. "He took some swings tonight in his second at-bat that just didn't look good so I took him out of the game.

"We'll see how it looks tomorrow. He's pretty adamant about wanting to play but we have to be careful with this thing, too."

Milwaukee had a last gasp in the ninth when Curtis Granderson drew a leadoff walk against Raisel Iglesias.

But Yelich, Domingo Santana and Hernán Pérez all struck out, leaving the Brewers with 3-2, 3-2 and 3-1 losses on its penultimate home stand against the bottom two teams in the division.

FIVE TAKEAWAYS

HAVE MERCY: Counsell normally holds his pregame media briefing in the Brewers dugout, but because of the swarms of mosquitoes he took mercy and held it in his office instead while letting one of his starting pitchers serve as big-game hunter.

"I thought I'd give you guys a break. It's pretty bad," he said. "We do have Wade Miley, our chief mosquito repeller, back now in charge of mosquito repelling. So we should be OK. He pitched yesterday and is back to fighting mosquitoes today. He's got some device that looks like a big old cell phone that has some stuff in it."

LIKE A GLOVE: The Brewers' lineup has had a different look of late, with Granderson supplanting Cain in the leadoff spot with the team facing right-handed pitching. He made his fifth start Tuesday, with Cain dropping to third. Granderson singled, walked twice and scored three runs hitting leadoff Monday and was hitting .333 with two homers and three runs batted in for Milwaukee since being acquired via trade Aug. 31.

"Curtis is playing really well. He really is," Counsell said. "He’s getting on base. I do like this lineup. I like how it sets up with Curtis at the top and his ability to get on base. But he’s playing well. He’s getting on base and he’s adding a lot of offensive value right now."

MISSAKI RELEASED: Daniel Missaki, one of three right-handed, minor-league pitchers acquired from the Seattle Mariners in December 2015, was released Tuesday. Missaki came to the Brewers after having Tommy John surgery early in 2015, then had to have it a second time in March 2016. The cornerstone of that trade from Milwaukee's perspective was Freddy Peralta, who joined the starting rotation earlier this year. Carlos Herrera, the third pitcher, went 3-6 with a 5.46 earned run average as a 20-year-old in 28 appearances (10 starts) at Class A Wisconsin this season.

HOLDING PATTERN: Speaking of Peralta, he's been in the Brewers' bullpen and suiting up each day since he was recalled from Class AAA Colorado Springs on Sept. 9 but has yet to see action. He last pitched in a game Aug. 29 at Cincinnati

"There just hasn't been a spot," Counsell said. "I considered (Monday) night but I do think he's still length, and after you use (Brandon Woodruff) for two innings he's going to be down for the next couple days, and Freddy could be the guy that provides length. So we saved it. We've got 14 guys (in the bullpen) and three guys who have started a considerable amount of games down there (Peralta, Woodruff and Junior Guerra)."

SETTING IT UP: Counsell said the Brewers' rotation for the weekend series in Pittsburgh will be Jhoulys Chacín on Friday, Zach Davies on Saturday and Miley on Sunday. Chacín would then be lined up to make one final regular-season start Sept. 28 in St. Louis and follow that by starting a potential wild-card game.

RECORD

This year: 86-66

Last year: 81-71

ATTENDANCE

Tuesday: 30,366

This year: 2,685,294 (34,874 avg.)

Last year: 2,421,256 (31,445 avg.)

COMING UP

Wednesday: Reds at Brewers, 6:40 p.m. Milwaukee LHP Gio Gonzalez (8-11, 4.44) vs. Cincinnati RHP Matt Harvey (7-8, 4.67). TV: FS Wisconsin. Radio: AM-620.