Gallardo lacks command, but outshines offense

Published May. 14, 2012 10:18 p.m. ET

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Take away Brewers pitcher Yovani Gallardo's two performances against the Cardinals this season, and the potential ace looks the part in the Milwaukee rotation.

Against non-St. Louis teams, Gallardo has yet to give up more than three runs in a start, and even that's only happened once -- against San Diego on May 2.

And on Monday, Gallardo continued that kind of dominance, allowing just two hits and two runs in six innings of work. But like his season has gone so far, Gallardo didn't make things easy.

Without much command in his six-inning effort, Gallardo walked six batters, setting up the Mets scores that changed the game. Still, after the game, Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said the team wouldn't have even had a chance against New York, if not for Gallardo's performance on the mound.

"He kept us in the game," Roenicke said. "Command was not there. Ball-strike ratio was definitely not what Yo usually does. He got his pitch count up early, but he did, he kept us in the game. He made some pitches when he needed to . . . but he struggled. He did."

Like Roenicke said, Gallardo made pitches when he needed to, holding the Mets to a 1-for-10 mark with runners in scoring position. But Gallardo's offense was similarly bad with runners in scoring position, finishing 1-for-9 in the 3-1 loss.

Pitching coach Rick Kranitz echoed Roenicke's sentiment, adding that Gallardo's walks and his brief problems with command were the only thing that kept him from having a truly dominant performance against the Mets.

"Yo is a guy that's not going to give in," Kranitz said. "He only gave up two hits. He had really, really good stuff tonight."

As Gallardo's performance extended the Brewers' quality start streak to six in a row, the worry continues to shift toward an offense that has scored three or less runs on 20 separate occasions already this season.

For another night, however, the Brewers pitching gave its offense chances it couldn't quite cash in on.

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