MILWAUKEE — For Milwaukee fans looking for a silver lining during a wretched start to the 2015 season, consider this: The Brewers are running out of ways to lose ballgames.
A day after their offense broke out of its April slumber only to be out-slugged, the Brewers lost in heartbreaking fashion, falling on a ninth-inning wild pitch that scored Cincinnati Reds center fielder Billy Hamilton in a 2-1 loss at Miller Park.
“That’s just not a good way to lose a game,” said Brewers manager Ron Roenicke, whose team fell to 2-13 and has lost eight in a row.
After the Brewers stranded the go-ahead run at third in the eighth, Roenicke turned to veteran closer Francisco Rodriguez to preserve the tie in the ninth.
Rodriguez had worked just one inning in the last eight days and quickly got himself into trouble, issuing a one-out walk to Hamilton, who moved to third on a base hit by first baseman Joey Votto.
Rodriguez popped up third baseman Todd Frazier for the second out but bounced a 1-1 changeup to second baseman Brandon Phillips that got past Brewers catcher Martin Maldonado behind the plate and Hamilton scored.
“I always tell myself if it gets anywhere on the grass around the home plate area, I gotta get there, I gotta score,” Hamilton said. “It happened to get away from (Maldonado) a little bit, and I made a play.
“Rodriguez kind of throws a lot in the dirt because of the split fingers and the curveball, and sometimes you’ve got to be ready for it. If it bounced on the grass, I gotta get there. No matter what.”
After saving 44 games a year ago, Rodriguez has yet to find himself in a save situation this season — his first in a two-year, $13 million contract.
“That’s the last thing I’m going to worry about — save situations,” Rodriguez said. “I worry about getting ‘Ws’ — that’s it. I couldn’t care less about personal numbers or saves. When they come, just be ready for it. But right now, we need a ‘W’ and we’re not getting it. That’s why it’s so frustrating.”
Hamilton’s late-game heroics gave right-hander Johnny Cueto his first victory of the season and the first of his career at Miller Park, where he was 0-3 with a 4.89 ERA in six pervious starts.
Staked to an early 1-0 thanks to Hamilton, who singled, stole second and scored in the first inning, Cueto stymied the Brewers through eight innings, allowing just one run, five hits and two walks with eight strikeouts.
Cueto threw a career-high 125 pitches and was already at 99 when he came out for the eighth. Cueto quickly found himself in trouble, giving up a leadoff double to pinch-hitter Logan Schafer, who moved to third on a sac bunt by Jean Segura.
Cueto retired second baseman Elian Herrera on a called strikeout before right fielder Ryan Braun drew a two-out walk.
That brought Reds manager Brian Price out for a conference, but Cueto stayed in the game and struck out left-handed-hitting first baseman Adam Lind to end the inning.
“I don’t want him throwing 125 pitches every five days,” Price said. “But in that situation I never thought about taking him out unless he said he was tired.”
Had Milwaukee scored in the inning, right-hander Jimmy Nelson would have likely been rewarded with his first victory of the year.
In by far the best showing by a Brewers starter this season, Nelson went eight innings and allowed just the first-inning run, three hits and two walks while striking out five. Thanks to three double plays, he faced just two batters over the minimum.
But … it was all for naught.
“That was a tough one today, but we showed yesterday that we can hit,” Nelson said. “We have full confidence that we are going to break out of this. This isn’t our team. We’re a lot better than this and we know we’re going to play better.”
NOTES: Milwaukee optioned RHP Tyler Thornburg and recalled RHP Rob Wooten from Triple-A Colorado Springs on Thursday. Thornburg had a 7.11 ERA in six games for Milwaukee this season. … Reds 1B Joey Votto was batting .414 (12-for-29) with two doubles, three home runs, a triple and eight RBIs through the first eight games of Cincinnati’s 10-game road trip.
