Too little, too late for Brewers in loss to Cardinals

Trailing 2-0 in the bottom of the sixth inning, the Milwaukee Brewers managed to avoid grounding into yet another double play and had the middle of their order coming to bat with two runners on base and just one out. For the stagnant offense of this reeling ball club, it looked promising.

But, eight pitches later, the opportunity was squandered and the inning over, as both Ryan Braun and Adam Lind struck out looking, their impotent bats held harmlessly beside their soon-shaking heads. No runs would be scored in that inning, the 15th in a row without a Milwaukee runner crossing home plate. The Brewers would tally a few runs a couple of innings later, but it was too little, too late, as they'd fallen further behind by then, ultimately losing 5-3 to the Cardinals at Miller Park on Saturday evening.

After being held scoreless in the series opener the previous night, Milwaukee didn't even get a runner to third base until the eighth inning Saturday. The majors' second-worst offense hit into three double plays in the first four innings and struck out seven times in the contest.

Manager Ron Roenicke, who wrote a different lineup for the 17th time in 18 games this season, put it simply after the game.

"We're not playing good baseball," he said, noting that the Brewers "didn't have a whole lot of opportunities" to score runs and had "messed up" those chances they did create.

Indeed, each time the Brewers threatened to do something productive at the plate early on, they stepped on their own feet. In the first inning, leadoff hitter Jean Segura singled to left, but two batters later Braun grounded into a double play. In the second inning, Lind led off with a booming double to deep center field; a couple batters later, though, he was doubled off second base on an Aramis Ramirez lineout to shortstop. In the fourth, another Segura leadoff single was squandered in the fourth by Gerardo Parra popping up his bunt attempt, which resulted in Segura being doubled off first.

The Brewers (3-15) hold the worst record in baseball and are now the fourth NL team since 1969 to lose at least 15 times in their first 18 games. Roenicke said his team's sloppiness -- the botched bunt, Segura's baserunning mistake, a couple of defensive errors -- bothered him.

"It allows them to get runs, and then the sloppiness on our part prevents us from scoring," he said.

The frustration ultimately boiled over for the Milwaukee manager, who was ejected in the seventh inning after arguing with home plate umpire Dale Scott. It was Roenicke's first ejection of the season.

"I didn't like his strike zone, so I told him he had a bad night," Roenicke said, adding that he didn't believe the questionable calls were anything uniquely personal to his team.

By the time the Brewers got anything going offensively in the eighth inning, they'd already wasted Wily Peralta's solid outing -- two runs on seven hits with five strikeouts and two walks in 6 1/3 innings, the Brewers' fourth straight quality start. Relievers Will Smith and Jeremy Jeffress combined to give up three runs in the seventh on a Matt Holliday home run, which allowed St. Louis to take a 5-0 lead.

Regarding Peralta, Roenicke said he was pleased with the big righty's performance.

"I thought he threw the ball well. He didn't have his best stuff again, but he goes out there and he competes, he battles," Roenicke said. "For me, he's doing a great job for really not being locked in like we know he can be."

Peralta was more critical of himself in the locker room. He said he was particularly upset about one mistake, a missed pitch to Cardinals second baseman Kolten Wong in the second inning. Wong tripled to center field, and St. Louis would go on to notch their first two runs in that inning.

"They're a good team, a good-hitting team; they don't miss mistakes," Peralta said. "It was a tough loss."

One of the few bright spots in the lineup was Segura, who finished with three of his team's nine hits, including a double. Segura had two hits the previous night and has collected multiple hits in four of his last five games. Another contributor was Ramirez, who had a season-high three hits, including a two-RBI double in the Brewers' three-run seventh inning. Perhaps it was a sign of an offensive awakening for the notoriously slow starter.

Heading into Sunday's series finale before a six-game divisional road trip, Peralta succinctly summed up what the Brewers must do to start stringing together some victories (they haven't won two straight games yet this season).

"We need to start hitting better, we need to start pitching better, we need to put it together as a team," he said. "It's time to do our jobs."

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