Over the course of the past 150 days, the Milwaukee Brewers have woken up in first place in the National League Central.
Milwaukee's nearly five-month reign as division leaders ended for the time Monday, as a 4-2 loss to the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field combined with a St. Louis victory pushed the Cardinals into sole possession of first place.
The Brewers' losing streak has reached six games, as they now sit as the second wild-card team in the National League with 25 games to play.
"We're going through a bad week, and we need to change it," Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said. "It certainly can change in a hurry. It could change tomorrow and we go on a good span. We have it in us. These guys know it. We just need to start it."
Cubs starter Jacob Turner, who entered with a 5.84 ERA on the season, limited the Brewers to just one run over 6 1/3 innings while matching his career high with seven strikeouts.
Designated for assignment by the Marlins in August, Turner has now allowed just one run in 12 2/3 innings against the Brewers this season. Only three of Turner's 14 starts this season have been quality starts and two of those have been against Milwaukee.
The Brewers have scored just 13 runs over the six-game losing streak and three of those runs came late in a blowout loss Sunday in San Francisco.
"Good slider, good location on his fastball," Roenicke said of Turner. "He threw curveballs when he needed to to keep guys off balance. He moves the ball around nice.
"We didn't swing the bat that well, obviously. We didn't get a lot of hits ... We need to get going. That order has to produce some runs. Still it's a nice lineup."
The Brewers seemed prepared to bust out offensively in the first inning Monday, as Scooter Gennett and Jonathan Lucroy each singled to start the game. But the inning quickly fizzled out mostly due to a fantastic pick by Cubs third baseman Luis Valbuena on a ball hit by Ryan Braun to start a double play.
Braun walked to start the fourth inning, but Aramis Ramirez immediately hit into a double play to kill the threat.
By the time the fifth inning rolled around, the Brewers were facing a multi-run deficit yet again. Jorge Soler doubled off Jimmy Nelson with one out in the second and scored on a broken-bat single from Welington Castillo.
The Cubs had two on with nobody out in the fourth after a double and a walk, but Nelson appeared to be on his way out of the inning after getting Soler to hit into a double play.
After jumping ahead of Castillo 1-2, Nelson hung a slider that the Cubs catcher hit for a two-run home run, putting Chicago ahead 3-1.
The rookie right-hander would recover to keep the Brewers in the game, allowing three runs on nine hits over six innings.
"He made a couple of mistakes, but I thought it was pretty good," Roenicke said of Nelson's outing. "He gives up a run on a shattered bat that bloops into left. He gives up another run on Castro's bloop that hits the right-field line, and then bad pitch to Castillo for a homer. But I thought he threw the ball well."
The Brewers finally got on the board in the seventh when Khris Davis blasted a solo home run off Turner. Gerardo Parra followed with a solo shot off Cubs reliever Blake Parker to cut the deficit to 3-2.
Milwaukee wouldn't threaten again, as the Cubs added a big insurance run on a Luis Valbuena solo homer off Jeremy Jeffress in the eighth.
In their current state, the Brewers are a ball club in desperate need of a spark, a big hit, a dominant start or anything that would bring a positive feeling back to their side.
The good news for the Brewers is there are still 25 games remaining on the schedule. Despite a dreadful week, Milwaukee finds itself in the thick of a playoff race and would be in the postseason if the season ended today.
But there's no question the Brewers are trending downward. What remains unanswered is if they have it in them to right the ship before it gets too late.
"Everybody is still good, still positive," Roenicke said. "We're just going through a bad spell."
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