A day after breaking out for nine runs to win a slugfest, the Milwaukee Brewers failed to carry over the offensive momentum on Saturday afternoon at Marlins Park.
The Brewers had 11 hits but pushed across just one run, going 2-for-12 with runners in scoring position and stranding nine in a 2-1 loss to the Miami Marlins, evening the three-game series at one game apiece.
Marlins starter Jacob Turner, who entered with just one quality start on the season and a 6.59 ERA, pitched 6 1/3 scoreless innings and earned his first win of the season after Miami's bullpen pitched out of a couple jams late.
"It's interesting from game to game what can happen," Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said. "You look at numbers of pitchers and you think you know when you are going to do well -- you just can't figure it out. This game is tough to figure out."
The Brewers certainly had their chances to score more than one run Saturday, starting with wasting a leadoff double from Carlos Gomez in the second inning. Milwaukee had two runners on with one out in the third but couldn't score, while a baserunning mistake in the top of the sixth proved to be crucial.
With two runners on and two out, the Brewers appeared to have tied the game at 1 on Mark Reynolds' single left. The Marlins didn't have a play at Ryan Braun coming around to score, but left fielder Christian Yelich threw Gomez out at third to end the inning before Braun could cross the plate.
"It's obviously a shorter throw for that outfielder to get it to third with the timing of whether he would throw it to home, so it is going to be quicker getting to third base, which makes it tough," Roenicke said. "When you are on first, if you think there's a chance (you get thrown out), you need to pull up."
Gomez's aggressiveness on the bases creates offense for the Brewers, but it also sometimes comes back to bite Milwaukee.
"With the way he's running now, it's not like he normally is," Roenicke said of Gomez, who still is battling a back injury. "You still have the same instincts, but since you aren't running the same, things change."
Khris Davis doubled with one out in the seventh inning but was stranded, as Miami then grabbed a 2-0 lead against reliever Tyler Thornburg in the bottom half of the frame.
Jonathan Lucroy got the Brewers on the board with an RBI double in the top of the eighth and a throwing error by Marlins catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia on a dropped third strike gave Milwaukee runners at second and third with one out.
Marlins reliever A.J. Ramos got Reynolds to pop out to short, while closer Steve Cishek came in and fanned Scooter Gennett to keep Miami in front 2-1.
"We didn't get them until a little later on, but we did get some hits and we got some baserunners," Roenicke said. "We had a couple of chances and we messed up the one. We had second and third with one out and Reynolds up there. It was certainly different than yesterday.
Wily Peralta continued to be hurt by a lack of run support, as the young right-hander battled through not having his best stuff to allow just one run over six innings. The Brewers have scored just 2.8 runs per game for Peralta this season, the eighth-worst run support for a pitcher in the National League.
"He was still not locked in," Roenicke said. "Hopefully this builds a little confidence. To only give up one run there is pretty good. I'm hoping the confidence level he gets carries in and we get the good command back again. He made some really good pitches when he needed to, but it was different.
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