MILWAUKEE -- Despite the pomp and circumstance that goes with Opening Day, it is still just one game out of 162.
And that's a good thing for the Milwaukee Brewers.
Opening Day was one to forget for the Brewers, as they put forth an all around ugly performance Monday in a 10-0 loss to the Colorado Rockies in front of a sellout crowd of 46,032 at Miller Park.
"Opening Day, you certainly don't want to play this way," Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said. "You don't want to play this way any time, but Opening Day? It's disappointing. I thought we did a nice job in spring training getting ready for this."
It is hard to determine in which aspect of the game the Brewers struggled the most Monday. Kyle Lohse tied a career high with eight earned runs allowed, the defense committed three errors and the offense was shut out by a pitching staff that had the highest ERA in baseball a year ago.
Milwaukee was in a 4-0 hole before it had a chance to bat Monday. Doubles from Carlos Gonzalez, Troy Tulowitzki and Nolan Arenado got the Rockies off to a quick start before Corey Dickerson launched a two-out, two run home run off Lohse.
"I was frustrated," Lohse said. "I wasn't doing what I normally do, executing pitches. I kind of got outside of my normal sequences and you saw the result. I couldn't get it back going. Usually I'm able to grind through and salvage something after the first inning but it just didn't happen today."
The game began to spiral away from Lohse and the Brewers after Arenado crushed a two-run home run to the left-field bleachers in the third. An RBI single from Gonzalez in the fourth inning made it 7-0, ending Lohse's day in the process.
Making his third-career Opening Day start, Lohse lasted just 3 1/3 innings and allowed eight earned runs on 10 hits. The veteran right-hander felt he deviated from his usual approach by coming inside more than he usually does.
"Doesn't matter if it's the first one, the last one or somewhere in the middle," Lohse said. "When you go out there and don't give your team a chance, it always stinks. I don't put any more pressure on myself because it was Opening Day or be any more disappointed because it was Opening Day.
"It's disappointing to have a game like that. I've been around long enough (to know) that it's going to happen again, I'm sure. You don't want it to, but you just bounce back and get ready for the next one against the Pirates."
Kendrick, who has a 4.65 ERA over the past two seasons, only ran into trouble once over seven shutout innings. The Brewers loaded the bases with one out in the second, but Jean Segura hit into a double play to end the inning.
Once the game got out of hand, the Brewers allowed Kendrick to put it on cruise control.
"We were trying to do too much," Brewers catcher Jonathan Lucroy said. "It seemed like I was behind in the count every at-bat. He was out there bam, bam and next thing you know you are 0-2. That's a big thing. When a guy is out there throwing against you locating down and throwing strikes, an umpire starts giving him stuff. It is one of those things that's tough to come back out of it."
Because it is the beginning of a new season, Opening Day is magnified unlike any other regular-season game. Fortunately for the Brewers, the University of Wisconsin men's basketball team playing in the national championship game Monday night had most of the Miller Park patrons able to turn their attention elsewhere when things got out of hand.
Chants of, "Let's Go Badgers!" broke out as early as the fourth inning, while the loudest ovation of the afternoon came when the video board played highlights of Wisconsin's upset of Kentucky with the school's fight song in the background.
"This was just a bad day," Lucroy said. "You just have to chalk it up to a bad day. We've hung 10 runs on people before, so it is one of those things. The good thing about baseball is you play every day. You forget about it and move on to tomorrow."
The Brewers won't deny Monday was a dreadful performance -- it was Milwaukee's most lopsided Opening Day loss since 1973 -- but they also know not to blow the result of one game out of proportion.
"We've got a good team in here," Lohse said. "Obviously disappointed to start it off like that but it's just one of many games we're going to be playing. You just turn the page on that one. All around, it just was not a good one."
Braun exits: To add to an already frustrating afternoon, Brewers right fielder Ryan Braun left Monday's game with a lower right side injury.
Braun was injured while making a running catch on a fly ball hit by Rockies first baseman Justin Morneau in the top of the fourth inning. He stayed in the game to hit in the fourth and played right field in the fifth before exiting prior to the top of the sixth.
"I was reaching to catch a fly ball that Justin Morneau hit in the fourth inning and felt it a little bit," Braun said. "I don't know. With these things, you always know more the next day. Hopefully, (Tuesday) morning I wake up and feel OK. We'll see how it feels (Tuesday) and go from there."
Braun said he was not currently scheduled for an MRI, but that could change depending on how he feels Tuesday morning.
"We'll address it in the morning," Braun said. "If it doesn't feel great, then it's probably something we would do."
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