Wednesday's Frosty Mug: Brewer News, Links And Notes To Read Before The Day Game

Some things to read while still not getting it.

For the second straight night the Brewers closed the gap in the ninth and last night they even brought the potential go-ahead run to the plate, but they still lost 8-6 to the Rockies and have dropped 12 of their last 13 road games. We've got the recap, if you missed it.

Six runs weren't enough for the Brewers last night, and that was largely due to a weak showing from Randy Wolf. He gave up four runs in the first and six overall on ten hits while lasting just five innings in the game. Last night's game was the eighth time he's allowed five or more runs in a game this season. The franchise record is 12, set by Jaime Navarro in 1993.

Other notes from the field:

• Rockies shortstop Josh Rutledge scored one of the first inning runs after Wolf hit him with a pitch. It was Wolf's 101st career hit batsman, and Plunk Everyone has more about it.
• Martin Maldonado hit the Brewers' lone homer last night and rounded the bases in 21.67 seconds afterwards.
• Carlos Gomez's 17.22 second trot time Monday was the fastest in all of baseball on the day, while Rickie Weeks' 24.26 trot in the ninth was the day's second slowest.

The series and this dreadful road trip wrap up today when the Brewers and Rockies meet again at 2:10. Mark Rogers has been activated from the paternity list and will start as planned after his wife gave birth to their daughter Ellyette Bay yesterday. The Rockies scratched pitcher Drew Pomeranz from his scheduled appearance and will send Guillermo Moscoso to the mound instead. Alex Angert has the MLB.com preview.

To make room on the roster for Rogers the Brewers have returned Jeff Bianchi to Nashville. Bianchi was with the team for two days and got one at bat. If this was the plan all along, then I'm not sure why they bothered to call him up in the first place.

Ryan Braun went 0-for-5 last night for just the fourth time all season and remains stuck on 29 home runs. He's hitting .154/.154/.205 in his last nine games and his season OPS has dropped 57 points over that time, but he told Adam McCalvy he's confident he'll break out of this slump. Jon Morosi of Fox Sports is still listing him as an MVP candidate.

The Brewers looked pretty bad for eight innings last night but at least there's this: They got through an entire game without a sacrifice bunt for just the second time in their last five games. Ron Roenicke Stole My Baseball continued the bunting debate with a look at various occasions where the Brewers have bunted with the pitcher on deck.

Randy Wolf, of course, wasn't the only Brewer pitcher roughed up in Denver this week. Adam McCalvy talked to Yovani Gallardo (who has some experience in this area) about Mike Fiers and bouncing back from a rough outing in Colorado.

In the minors:

• We've got good news this morning regarding a couple of minor league pitchers: Brandon Kintzler has been promoted to Nashville after posting a 3.28 ERA over 31 appearances for Huntsville. He made his Sounds debut last night. Meanwhile, John Hellweg has been activated off the Stars' DL and will pitch in relief for the rest of the season.
• The affiliates went 1-4 last night with the lone win coming from Nashville, where Hiram Burgos allowed two runs over seven innings in the Sounds' 3-2 walkoff win. You can read about that and more in today's Minor League Notes.
• Nashville outfielder Khris Davis, who was intentionally walked during the ninth inning last night, was the subject of one of John Sickels of Minor League Ball's Prospect Notes. Sickels says "Davis has done enough to get himself noticed. It will be very interesting to see if the Brewers protect him on the 40-man roster this winter."
• Tim Dillard picked up the win last night and now holds the Nashville career franchise record with 35.
• Nashville broadcaster Jeff Hem has an interview with Brewer assistant GM Gord Ash.

If you'd like more Brewer coverage today but you're sick of reading, my weekly appearance on The Watercooler with Jimmie Kaska on Sports Radio 1400 in Eau Claire has been archived.

Finally, congratulations are due out this morning to weisomatic, yesterday's winner in our SB Nation Pick 6 contest. Here's the full leaderboard:

Today's action starts at 11:40, so you're running out of time to get your picks in.

Around baseball:

Athletics: Placed third baseman Brandon Inge on the DL with a dislocated shoulder.
Blue Jays: Signed catcher Jeff Mathis to a two year, $3 million contract extension with a club option for 2015 and signed catcher Yorvit Torrealba to a minor league deal.
Cardinals: Placed reliever Brian Fuentes on the restricted list.
Diamondbacks: Placed pitcher Takashi Saito on the DL with a hamstring strain.
Giants: Placed pitcher Brad Penny on the DL with shoulder soreness.
Mets: Acquired catcher Kelly Shoppach from the Red Sox for a PTBNL.
Orioles: Placed pitcher Troy Patton on the DL with a sprained ankle and designated pitcher Miguel Socolovich for assignment.
Padres: Designated pitcher Alex Hinshaw for assignment.
Royals: Are expected to release "infielder" Yuniesky Betancourt.

Today in former Brewers: Longtime Brewer first baseman Greg Brock was in attendance in Denver last night.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to check Howie's levels.

Drink up.