Offense goes missing again in 2-0 loss to Guardians

Box Score

The Brewers fell to the Guardians in a 2-0 loss Tuesday night, the second consecutive night that Cleveland has shut them out.

It wasn’t an altogether disappointing night, but the lack of offense failed to make the most of another great outing from Quinn Priester. He went five innings and only surrendered one run, which came on a solo shot by Jose Ramirez in the first inning. He was nearly flawless for the rest of the evening, allowing only two other hits and two walks. He forced groundballs with consistency, including some timely double plays to help ease his workload.

While those double plays kept his pitch count reasonable, the Brewers didn’t push him as far as in previous starts. He went 102 and 101 pitches in his starts against St. Louis and Chicago, but he combined to allow 12 runs in those two games. In his most recent two games, he has only gone 78 and 69 pitches, but has only allowed three combined runs, so it’s understandable that they didn’t force him to go past the fifth inning. He didn’t show much strikeout stuff tonight, only getting four whiffs, but this is about as good as the Brewers could ask.

The offensive display has been struggling far beyond this Cleveland series. Entering the game, the Brewers were sitting at the bottom of the league in runs scored over the past 15 days. They only garnered three hits through the entire game and walked once. It was a winnable game, but they never made good on their few opportunities.

The first inning saw Jackson Chourio lead off with a single and, with two outs, steal second and third base. Christian Yelich struck out to end the inning. They wouldn’t get another hit until the fifth inning. Brice Turang singled, and Andruw Monasterio reached on a walk, but Joey Ortiz hit a weak chopper to shortstop to end the inning.

It was once again Chourio, this time in the sixth inning, setting the stage for at least the hope of a rally. He led off with a double, but the next three batters were retired to leave the Brewers scoreless.

The bullpen remained stalwart, keeping the game competitive even when things could have spiraled out of control. Tyler Alexander replaced Priester for the sixth inning. Alexander allowed two baserunners, but Nick Mears came in as the fireman to end the threat.

In the seventh, Abner Uribe struggled with his control, allowing a walk and hitting two batters to load the bases. But with two outs, Jared Koenig was able to retire the third out.

Things got dangerous once again in the eighth when Joel Payamps allowed a single to Ramirez and a triple by Kyle Manzardo to give the Guardians a 2-0 lead. He stopped the bleeding quickly, though, once again keeping the Brewers within reach of Cleveland.

At this point, though, the offense had proved unable to generate any momentum, and that didn’t change once closer Emmanuel Clase entered the game. Jake Bauers struck out after entering as a pinch-hitter. William Contreras grounded out, and Yelich struck out swinging to end the game.

It was another sluggish night for Milwaukee’s bats, but they’ll try again tomorrow in an early matchup for the series finale. As they attempt to salvage a game, Logan Henderson will take the stage against Gavin Williams.

First pitch is at 12:10 p.m. CT. The game will be broadcast on FanDuel Sports Network Wisconsin and the Brewers Radio Network.