By PHIL ERVIN
FOXSportsNorth.com
MINNEAPOLIS – Marco Estrada sufficed in his role as an innings glut Wednesday night.
But the Milwaukee wins leader's own turbulent start and a Minnesota-aided dose of offensive ineptitude kept the Brewers from reaping any immediate benefits.
With a largely disabled bullpen following Tuesday's 14-inning marathon in Milwaukee, it was up to Estrada to secure a lengthy showing in his 11th start of the year. He did, lasting seven innings, striking out five, and allowing four earned runs on seven hits.
But three of those Twins runs came in a five-hit opening frame.
And the way the Brewers aren't batting lately, that was a deep enough chasm in a 4-1 defeat – their third straight in this series and 16th in their past 20 outings.
"We've all been struggling, and you want to go out there and do your best job and give the team a chance to win," said Estrada, who fell to 4-3 but lasted seven innings for the third time in his past four starts. "You give up three runs in the first inning, it just kind of kills it, you know? It's hard to bounce back."
Still, the sixth-year pro did his primary duty. Milwaukee used seven relievers in its 6-5 loss Tuesday, leaving only Tom Gorzelanny and Francisco Rodriquez in prime position to take over.
"He had to" eat innings, manager Ron Roenicke said.
A former reliever who switched to the Brewers' rotation early last summer, Estrada had no problem serving as the sacrificial lamb.
"I wanted to throw a complete game," Estrada said. "God, it's so frustrating coming out that first inning and doing what I did. Not locating, leaving pitches up – I just gave the other team a chance to hit the ball.
"And they did."
Eduardo Escobar and Brian Dozier both sent singles into shallow left field to open the bottom of the first then advanced on an Estrada throwing error. Ryan Doumit's double to right scored them both and crossed the plate himself via Chris Herrmann's single.
Estrada's wild pickoff attempt toward second settled in center field and ushered in an early mound visit from catcher Jonathan Lucroy. Over his last six innings of work, Estrada began locating his fastball much more effectively and yielded just two more hits. He faced the minimum in the fifth, sixth and seventh stanzas and exited right at the 100-pitch mark.
Only 29 of his offerings missed the strike zone.
"Those pitchers, they get worked up, and you've got to go out there and be a psychologist and just calm them down," Lucroy said. "After he settled down, I left him alone."
Lucroy and the rest of Milwaukee's lineup, which used a designated hitter per interleague rules, couldn't bail out their hard-throwing right-hander.
Struggling against Twins starter Samuel Deduno's "effectively erratic" outing, as Lucroy described it, the Brewers mustered just five hits and failed to drive in more than one run for the eighth time this month. Carlos Gomez made it three straight games with a double for the second time this season and scored on a fielder's choice in the second inning, but that was the only source of joy for the away contingent present in a Target Field crowd of 31,359.
"It was really weird; his fastball was cutting," said Lucroy, one of four Brewers to produce a hit. "You just don't know where anything's going. … You couldn't really sit on anything."
Deduno's evening came to an end after he hit Jean Segura and walked Ryan Braun, but Aramis Ramirez hit down the third-base line into a double play, and Minnesota first baseman Chris Parmelee toppled over the gate just past the Twins dugout to snag Gomez's foul ball.
It was the last of several scintillating defensive plays by Milwaukee's old rival, which can earn its first four-game sweep of the season Thursday.
Center fielder Aaron Hicks laid out completely to rob Rickie Weeks of extra bases in the fourth inning before blasting a 412-foot home run off Estrada in the bottom of the frame, and Parmelee had to lean into the grandstand to secure an earlier foul ball in the fifth. The Brewers struck out just four times but found few gaps against an error-free Minnesota infield.
"It's frustrating when guys make a good play on you, because it's hard enough to hit a ball hard as it is," Lucroy said.
Bleak continues to get bleaker.
Lose Thursday and in Friday's series opener at Philadelphia, and Milwaukee (5-21 in May) will clinch the worst month in franchise history.
That's with two All-Stars and a former National League MVP in the lineup.
"It's getting old going out and just losing all the time," Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said. "Sometimes, we play good games and we lose, but there's a lot of games we don't do much. We didn't do much today."
Said Estrada: "I keep saying this, man. Our team is really good. We're gonna be OK. We're too good not to be."
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