Monday- Slightly short of season sweep

Some things to read while scouring the bargain bin.

The Milwaukee Brewers played their 20th game in as many days on Sunday, and looked like a team that may have run out of gas. They lost 10-4 to the Colorado Rockies, and Adam McCalvy has the MLB.com recap if you missed it. With the loss, the Brewers were forced to settle for a 6-1 finish in their seven scheduled games with the Rockies this season.

The Brewers had to get through Sunday’s game without Carlos Gomez, who left the game with a neck strain after colliding with Ryan Braun in the outfield on Saturday, and without Jean Segura, who also exited Saturday’s game early with leg cramps. Gomez’s injury and the Brewers’ short bench forced Ryan Braun to play center field in the majors for the first time on Saturday, and he told reporters, “I think I could do it” on a more permanent basis.

They also had to work around a rough day from Yovani Gallardo, who allowed eight runs (five earned) on 10 hits while completing just five innings. Gallardo’s ERA is still only 3.51 for the season, though, and Bill Berg of Reviewing the Brew gave him a B on his midseason report card for pitchers.

A blowout loss gave the Brewers an opportunity to get Wei-Chung Wang into a game for just the third time in the month of June, and they were rewarded with 1 1/3 scoreless innings with a walk and a strikeout. Wang reached an important milestone over the weekend, passing 90 days of MLB service time. With that mark behind him, the Brewers could still keep Wang even if he had to spend a portion or all of the rest of the season on the disabled list.

• Aramis Ramirez stole two bases on Sunday for the first time in his 17-year MLB career. He’s the 79th player in franchise history to accomplish that feat at least once, and the first Brewer to do it this season.
• Ramirez was also hit by a pitch for the 116th time in his career and the ninth time by the Rockies. Plunk Everyone has more on the accomplishment.
• Jonathan Lucroy doubled on Sunday and has reached base safely in 45 consecutive starts. That’s the second-longest streak in franchise history, trailing only Scott Podsednik (47 games in 2003).
• Olympians Erika and Craig Brown were in attendance for Sunday’s game and threw out the first pitches.
• Milwaukee Bucks first-round draft pick Jabari Parker threw out the first pitch before Saturday’s game.
• The Chorizo won Sunday’s Sausage Race after the Italian picked up wins on Friday and Saturday.

The Brewers are off today before opening a brief two-game set north of the border when they take on the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday. Marco Estrada will face Drew Hutchison at 12:07 p.m., and David Adler has the MLB.com preview. This is the second game in a stretch that will feature the Brewers playing five out of six games during the day.

Hutchison throws right-handed, so Scooter Gennett is likely to be back in the lineup Tuesday after sitting out most of the weekend (including his bobblehead day on Sunday). Gennett entered play Sunday leading all MLB second basemen with an .837 OPS (on-base plus slugging), and Jack Moore of Sports on Earth listed him as one of this season’s biggest surprises.

Tuesday is another day for the Brewers, who have been pretty good at bouncing back with a better performance after their worst outings this season. Michael Hunt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has a look at some of the cases where the Brewers have had difficult outings only to have momentum swing back their way the next time out.

With that said, it sounds like the Brewers may have to complete this turnaround without Jean Segura. After Sunday’s game, Ron Roenicke told reporters that Carlos Gomez is likely to be ready to play for the opening game of the Blue Jays series but Segura may need more time.

If Segura can’t answer the call on Tuesday, then we could see Jeff Bianchi back in the lineup at shortstop. Bianchi, who was outrighted off the 40-man roster earlier this season, was reinstated, called up from Nashville and placed in the starting lineup on Sunday when recent injuries caused the Brewers to reevaluate their short bench. Bianchi hit .276/.314/.418 (batting average/on-base percentage/slugging) in 24 games for Nashville after getting sent down, but went 0-for-4 on Sunday and is hitting just .136/.161/.136 in 22 games in the majors.

The Brewers freed up a spot on the roster by optioning Alfredo Figaro back to Nashville. Figaro pitched two perfect innings on Wednesday in his only appearance since being recalled after Tuesday’s game.

Giving the entire team an off day might be the only way to make sure Francisco Rodriguez and Will Smith don’t pitch today. AK of Ron Roenicke Stole My Baseball has a look at bullpen usage patterns to date, which show both relievers on pace to log some very high innings totals this season.

Zach Duke is already rested, though, having faced just one batter (and retiring him via strikeout) in the Rockies series. Neil Weinberg of Beyond the Box Score is the latest to look at how Duke has been able to reinvent himself as a reliever.

The non-waiver trade deadline is about a month from today, meaning we have about a month of rumor discussions yet to take place as Doug Melvin and company seek opportunities to improve the roster. MLB Trade Rumors has a recap of some of the things Melvin has said on this topic recently. I’ve said multiple times that the Brewers could use a power-hitting fourth outfielder-type to add a little power off the bench, and Derek Harvey of Brew Crew Ball makes the case for Bobby Abreu of the Mets to fill that role. Abreu is 40 and has hit .283/.364/.413 (batting average/on-base percentage/slugging) in 48 games for New York this season.

Khris Davis drove in two runs without the benefit of a hit on Sunday, snapping a five-game hitting streak. He entered play on Sunday with a .973 OPS in his last 31 games, and talked to Adam McCalvy about the honor of ranking 11th among NL outfielders in the All Star voting.

Ryan Braun, however, did have a pair of hits on Sunday and had a total of 10 in his six appearances on the homestand. Braun’s numbers are down a bit this season, but still good enough to earn him the opportunity to bat fourth and serve as the designated hitter on Bryan Cole of Beyond the Box Score’s All-Californian team.

It must be nice to have 10 hits in six games in the middle of your “down” stretch. Nonetheless, Braun’s recent struggles led to the Rockies making the decision to pitch to him with the game on the line Friday night instead of walking him and facing Jonathan Lucroy. Adam Wieser of Disciples of Uecker has more on the decision.

The Brewers have remained successful through Braun’s rough spots largely because of pretty remarkable contributions from Jonathan Lucroy. Jeff Passan of Yahoo has Lucroy fourth (and Carlos Gomez sixth) on his midseason NL MVP ballot. He also has Ron Roenicke winning the NL Manager of the Year Award.

In the minors:

• The affiliates went 3-2 on Sunday with one of the wins coming from Huntsville, where outfielder Kentrail Davis was on base five times in the Stars’ 9-7 win over Mississippi. You can read about that and more in today’s edition of Around the Horn at Miller Park Prospects.
• Chris Mehring of Rattler Radio has highlights and more from Wisconsin’s 5-3 loss to Burlington on Sunday.
• Wisconsin wraps up a four-game set with the Bees today, and I’ll be there covering the matinee contest for the Timber Rattlers Notebook at Brew Crew Ball.
• The Brewers promoted one familiar face and re-signed another over the weekend, moving 2013 Minor League Player of the Year Jason Rogers from Huntsville to Nashville and bringing back outfielder Erik Komatsu on a minor league deal. The Brewers sent Komatsu to the Nationals in the Jerry Hairston trade in 2011, and he played in the majors in 2012 with the Cardinals and Twins, but hasn’t had much success since.
• Nashville broadcaster Jeff Hem has an interview with Rogers.
• Tim Froberg of the Appleton Post Crescent has a profile of Wisconsin outfielder Michael Ratterree.
• Benjamin Hill of MiLB.com attempted to visit Joe W. Davis Stadium in Huntsville one final time in the Stars’ final season before moving to Biloxi in 2015, but his scheduled appearance was rained out. Nonetheless, he has an MiLB.com story and a blog post on the experience.

Closer to home, preparations continue for one of the summer’s hottest tailgate parties, and you’re invited to join us. The Miller Park Drunk Pants Party is scheduled for July 27, and time is running out to get your ticket. Vince from MPD took a moment over the weekend to explain why this is an event worth attending.
 
Today in power rankings:

• Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has moved the Brewers up from second to first in the National League.
• Beisbol’s Blog has the Brewers as the second-best team in all of baseball this week.
• Nats Insider moved the Brewers up a spot to second.
• Ryan Divish of The Seattle Times also upgraded the Brewers from third to second.
• So did Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News.

If you’d like more Brewers coverage today but you’re sick of reading, I’ll be making my weekly appearance on The Talking Cheeseheads with Ben Larson this afternoon. Listen in live on Sports Fan 100.5 in Wausau or Sports Talk AM 1090 WAQE in Rice Lake, or follow the above link later for the archived audio.

Around baseball:

Angels: Acquired reliever Jason Grilli from the Pirates for reliever Ernesto Frieri.
Athletics: Placed outfielder Josh Reddick on the DL with a knee strain.
Diamondbacks: Placed infielder Chris Owings on the DL with a shoulder strain, released reliever J.J. Putz and acquired infielder Ronny Cedeno from the Phillies for a minor leaguer.
Dodgers: Placed infielder Justin Turner on the DL with a hamstring strain.
Phillies: Placed catcher Carlos Ruiz on the DL with a concussion and designated pitcher Sean O’Sullivan and outfielder Zach Collier for assignment.
Reds: Signed Cuban pitcher Raisel Iglesias to a seven-year, $30 million contract.
Twins: Placed infielder Danny Santana on the DL with a knee bruise.

Let’s go around the NL Central:

• The Reds have moved into a tie for second place and are winners of five straight after wrapping up a sweep of the Giants with a 4-0 win on Sunday. Homer Bailey pitched a complete game three-hitter for the victory, and Cincinnati is above third place for the first time since April 2.
• The Cardinals lost three of four in Los Angeles over the weekend, including a 6-0 defeat on Sunday. Matt Carpenter had three of St. Louis’ six hits in the loss.
• The Pirates took three of four from the Mets over the weekend, including a 5-2 victory on Sunday. Pedro Alvarez homered and Edinson Volquez pitched six shutout innings for the win.
• The Cubs had a weird scheduled off day on Sunday, but lost both halves of a day-night doubleheader with the Nationals on Saturday to split a four-game series they had previously led 2-0.

The Brewers continue to hold a commanding lead in the Central, but here’s today’s reminder that anything can happen. Craig Calcaterra of Hardball Talk notes that the Dodgers were 9 1/2 games out of first place just 21 days ago, but are tied for the NL West lead today.
 
Francisco Rodriguez blew a save but got the win anyway when the Brewers walked off with a win on Friday, then picked up his MLB-leading 27th save on Saturday. Rodriguez has a 4.22 ERA in his last 21 appearances but it’s worth noting that things could always be worse: The Giants have bumped 2013 NL All-Star Sergio Romo from their closer role after he posted a 5.17 ERA over his first 33 outings in 2014.

Today in former Brewers:

• After two years in independent ball, reliever Chris Smith signed a minor league deal with the Padres over the weekend. Smith last pitched in the majors as a member of the 2010 Brewers.
• Longtime Brewers farmhand Cody Scarpetta is back in affiliated baseball in the Braves organization and was part of High-A Lynchburg’s back-to-back no-hitters over the weekend.

I’ve already mentioned Aramis Ramirez’s two-steal game, but he has a ways to go to catch Astros second baseman Jose Altuve. The diminutive infielder stole two bases on Sunday and is the first player since 1917 to swipe a pair of bags in four consecutive games.

That wasn’t the weekend’s only feat of strength, however: Angels outfielder Mike Trout also hit a 489-foot home run into the fountains at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City on Friday night.

Elsewhere in statistical notes: Baseball In-Depth notes that strikeout rates for both starting pitchers and relievers have risen steadily and significantly since 2000. The Brewers are tied for fifth with 651 strikeouts recorded on the season, which is about 7.6 per nine innings.

Today in baseball economics:

• The Dodgers are back in a tie for first place this morning and have thrown two no-hitters this season, but a fair portion of their fan base still can’t see their games on TV. Steve Dilbeck of the Los Angeles Times has a look at how they’ve gotten through over half of the 2014 season with a blackout preventing roughly 70 percent of their fans from being able to watch their games.
• Last week, I linked to a report saying the Athletics had reached an agreement on a 10-year lease extension for the O.co Coliseum. Those reports were premature, however, as talks have since broken down and a meeting to discuss the matter last week was canceled due to lack of quorum.