Milwaukee Brewers News Clips
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Milwaukee Brewers News Clips Monday, July 27, 2015 MLB.com • Lineup hits cold stretch at end of red-hot July • Brewers’ offense skids in series loss • Lohse faces Giants in final start before Deadline Journal Sentinel • Brewers bats are silent once again in loss to Diamondbacks • Adam Lind sits one out because of lower back tightness • Brewers at Diamondbacks: Sunday game report FOX Sports • Brewers’ Gomez drawing interest from contenders, non-contenders AP • Crew suffers another shutout at hands of Diamondbacks • Brewers-Giants Preview St. Louis Post-Dispatch • Cards have talked to Brewers about Lind http://m.brewers.mlb.com/news/article/138948686/brewers-offense-struggles-in-series-loss Lineup hits cold stretch at end of red-hot July By Adam McCalvy / MLB.com | July 26, 2015 PHOENIX -- After being shut out for the second straight day in Sunday's 3-0 loss to the D-backs, the Brewers' red- hot July is threatening to end with a deep freeze. After going 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position in Sunday's 3-0 loss to the Diamondbacks at Chase Field, the Brewers were hitless in their last 19 at-bats in the clutch. In losing consecutive shutouts over the weekend for the first time since April 2013, the Brewers went 0-for-16 in those situations. "We just haven't been able to put innings together," Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. "We just haven't been able to keep the line moving the last couple of days. We're in a little bit of a drought here, but I'm confident we'll score runs." That's because Counsell's club has shown it is capable of scoring runs in bunches. From the start of July through Thursday, the Brewers owned baseball's best OPS (.859), second best scoring rate (5.88 runs per game, tops in the National League) and fifth-best batting average with runners in scoring position (.287). On Friday, Jimmy Nelson was able to pitch the Brewers to a 2-1 win. But with no Brewers' offense on Saturday and Sunday, the D-backs won games by scores of 2-0 and 3-0. On Sunday, the Brewers were without regular first baseman Adam Lind(back), center fielder Carlos Gomez (day off) and Jean Segura (sick). "Obviously our offense was pretty bad," said Jonathan Lucroy, who started at first base on Sunday and accounted for one of Milwaukee's four hits. "We weren't very good in the clutch, and we weren't very good with less than two outs and a runner on this. And I'm including myself there." Lucroy's biggest missed opportunity came in the third inning, when Brewers starter Matt Garza and leadoff man Gerardo Parra began with successive singles against Arizona starter Jeremy Hellickson. Lucroy flew out to medium right field, too shallow to score Garza, who was then thrown out at the plate on Ryan Braun's bouncer to third. Khris Davis ended the inning with one of his four strikeouts. "You can't go out there and put runners on and not get them in and expect to win games," Lucroy said. "We have to be better at that. It's all contagious. You can't take anything away from their pitchers, because they did a good job of mixing and executing in situations, but we need to put some better swings on the ball in those situations. Especially myself. I left a lot of guys stranded, and I'm not too happy about that." Lucroy's results in clutch situations have suffered this season along with the rest of his numbers. He is hitting .250 with 17 RBIs in 56 at-bats with runners in scoring positon. Last season, Lucroy batted .265 in those situations, with 53 RBIs in 136 at-bats. http://m.brewers.mlb.com/news/article/138915702/jeremy-hellickson-leads-d-backs-in-shutout Brewers’ offense skids in series loss By Adam McCalvy and Jake Rill / MLB.com | July 26, 2015 PHOENIX -- Jeremy Hellickson pitched six scoreless innings and Jake Lamb andChris Owings provided run- scoring, extra-base hits in the D-backs' 3-0 win over the Brewers on Sunday at Chase Field. It was Arizona's third victory in the four-game series and second consecutive shutout. "His off-speed stuff today was really good, changeup, breaking ball, it threw them off down at the bottom of the order especially," D-backs manager Chip Hale said of Hellickson. "He's able to throw pitches that aren't predictable." Hellickson and Brewers starter Matt Garza dodged traffic all afternoon. Hellickson held Milwaukee hitless (0-for-9) with runners in scoring position over his six innings of work, while Garza also had Arizona at 0-for-9 with RISP before Owings finally broke through with a two-out, two-run double in the bottom of the sixth inning to chase Garza from the game. Lamb's RBI triple in the fourth inning came with a runner at first base. Hellickson improved to 5-1 with a 2.33 ERA in his last six starts at Chase Field while Garza lost for the fourth time in his last five decisions after allowing three earned runs on seven hits and three walks in 5 2/3 innings. The Brewers were shut out in back-to-back games for the first time this season. "You felt like [Garza] deserved a little better outcome than he got," Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. "He was one pitch away from a really nice outing. I know he's frustrated, because he pitched well." MOMENTS THAT MATTERED Out at home: Garza put the Brewers in business by singling to open the third inning, and was at third base with one when he broke home on contact with Ryan Braun at the plate. But Braun's bouncer went right to third baseman Lamb, who threw home to make Garza an easy out in what became a scoreless inning. Not so rare: While triples are the rarest type of hit, the D-backs have been collecting a bunch of them this month. In the fourth inning, Lamb tripled in A.J. Pollock for the first run of the game. The D-backs have 28 triples this season with 12 of them coming in July. It was Lamb's fourth triple of the year. "We need him to hit," Hale said of Lamb. "That's something we've been waiting on, for him to get back to where he was before the injury and I think he's starting to get comfortable." Tough day for Davis: With Adam Lind, Carlos Gomez and Jean Segura all out of Sunday's lineup, Brewers left fielder Khris Davis made his third start of the season in the cleanup spot. Davis had a difficult day, striking out in each of his first three at-bats with two runners aboard, including an inning-ending whiff in the third inning. Davis struck out again with the bases empty in the eighth for the third four-strikeout game of his career. Davis did make a pair of nice running catches in the outfield, but he also muffed a fly ball for an error. Coming in cold: With two outs in the sixth, Owings entered as a pinch-hitter for Hellickson with runners on first and second. Owings doubled down the left-field line to give the D-backs a cushion, pushing their lead to 3-0. Although Owings is 6-for-24 in his career as a pinch-hitter, he is 3-for-7 this season. "He had good numbers against Garza," Hale said. "I knew when we got into a situation where we could do some damage off the bench that C.O. would be the guy." QUOTABLE "It's coming back, but it's still not where I want to be. The ball is staying in the yard more, it's down. I'm just not turning my luck around. You just have to keep grinding, keep pushing." -- Garza on his two starts since a stint on the disabled list for a sore shoulder SOUND SMART WITH YOUR FRIENDS The Brewers led Major League Baseball with an .859 OPS and ranked second with 5.88 runs per game from July 1-23, but endured an offensive outage over the final three games of this series. They scored two total runs and went 0-for-19 with runners in scoring position from Friday through Sunday. More > The D-backs had back-to-back shutout wins for the first time since June 3-4, 2011. WHAT'S NEXT Brewers: The Brewers' westward swing continues at 9:15 p.m. CT Monday night in San Francisco, where Kyle Lohse will take a 6.29 ERA into his final scheduled start before the nonwaiver Trade Deadline. With Wily Peralta rejoining the rotation from the disabled list the following night, the Brewers have some decisions to make, and Lohse's spot is in question. D-backs: The D-backs open a 10-game road trip with a three-game series against the Mariners that begins on Monday at 7:10 p.m. MST. Robbie Ray takes the mound for the D-backs coming off his toughest outing of the season, when he gave up five runs in 4 2/3 innings in a loss to the Marlins. http://m.brewers.mlb.com/news/article/138889660/lohse-faces-giants-in-final-start-before-deadline Lohse faces Giants in final start before Deadline By Adam McCalvy / MLB.com | July 26, 2015 Brewers manager Craig Counsell made the case that Monday will be just another start for veteran right-hander Kyle Lohse.