Brewers Lose Fourth Straight Game, Fall Out of First Place With 6-2 Loss to Twins

W: Francisco Liriano (5-7)
L: Yovani Gallardo (9-5)

HR: Carlos Gomez (6), Jim Thome (5)

MVP: Carlos Gomez (+.094)
LVP: Yovani Gallardo (-.257)

Win Expectancy Graph

Interleague play can't end soon enough.  Not even a game against the Twins, a team the Brewers swept last week, can get them back on track.

After a two hour and eleven minute rain delay, the Brewers got out to a fast start as Carlos Gomez hit a home run to center field.  The Twins came right back in the bottom of the first, starting with a Joe Mauer single that Betancourt should have been able to get to.  After a walk to Michael Cuddyer, Jim Thome sent a three run home run out to left center field to get his 594th career home run and gave the Twins an early lead. 

The Brewers got a run back in the third inning.  After Rickie Weeks drew a walk, he got to second on a wild pitch and Ryan Braun drove him home with a single, which extended his hitting streak to 21 games.  However, in the 5th inning, Gallardo walked the first two batters (Ben Revere and Alexi Casilla), and then Thome hit a perfect double-play ball to Fielder that went right through his legs, resulting in an error and allowing Revere to score and Casilla to get to third base.  Casilla would then score on a 6-4-3 double-play.

The Brewers bats went silent from the fifth inning on.  Carlos Gomez's double in the fifth inning was the last hit for the Brewers in the game, and the Brewers couldn't manage any baserunners after that.

Yovani Gallardo wasn't terrible tonight, but he definitely wasn't pitching at his best, either.  He pitched seven innings in the game, allowing five hits, five runs (three earned), four walks, and four strikeouts.  The walks hurt the most, as three of them came around to score.  On the other side, Francisco Liriano redeemed himself after his last start.  He also pitched seven innings, but only allowed four hits, two runs, two walks, and seven strikeouts.

Zack Braddock and LaTroy Hawkins combined to allow one run in the eighth inning (charged to Braddock).

With the loss, the Brewers drop out of the first place in the NL Central and are now one game behind the St. Louis Cardinals. They have now lost four straight games overall and five straight games on the road.

The Twins ended their seven game losing streak against the Brewers.