After battling through five innings his last time out, Kyle Lohse was confident he knew what adjustments he had to make in order to put his early-season struggles behind him.
It turns out he was right.
Against the New York Mets on Friday, Lohse was the pitcher the Brewers have seen for most of the past two years. The veteran right-hander had all four of his pitches working and cruised through eight scoreless innings in Milwaukee's 7-0 victory at Citi Field.
"That was a lot more like it," Lohse said. "I just had a lot better command. We've been working on a couple mechanical things and it kind of paid dividends out there.
"I was just letting it happen instead of trying to force pitches and as a result I was more happy with how I executed. Threw a lot of good changeups, lot of good sliders and kept the fastball for the most part out of the middle."
It was evident Lohse had his command from the start, as he froze Curtis Granderson and Juan Lagares for looking strikeouts to start the bottom of the first inning.
With a little help from a spectacular diving catch made by Ryan Braun in the second inning, Lohse retired the first seven he faced Friday. An error by shortstop Hector Gomez allowed Ruben Tejada to reach with one out in the third, but Lohse eventually stranded two runners by getting Lagares to hit into an inning-ending fielder's choice.
By the time Wilmer Flores broke up Lohse's no-hit bid with a leadoff single in the fifth, the Brewers had a 6-0 lead against Mets starter Bartolo Colon.
New York's only other hit against Lohse came in the seventh when Daniel Murphy doubled to right with one out. The veteran right-hander then got Flores to fly out to center and struck out Johnny Monell to end the inning.
Lohse finished his stellar night by striking out the side in the eighth.
"It's been so frustrating the last couple starts feeling like I was so close to going out there and doing something similar to that, save for a couple big mistakes," Lohse said. "Tonight was just good, get a lead early, guys making some plays, Braun making a great diving catch. But it felt good to kind of get back to a little more normal start for myself."
While the Brewers expected Lohse to return to form as one of the more consistent pitchers in the National League at some point, it was important to have it happen sooner rather than later.
"The starting pitcher every night is a big deal," Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. "Getting one of those guys in a good place and a good spot is a big thing. He's battled through the last couple starts and kept us in the game, and tonight he had a little breakthrough where he was in control for himself.
"We put those runs on the board in the third and you give someone a 5-0 lead, it allows him to be more aggressive with what he's doing and allows him to go out and execute without that one pitch being something that can hurt you."
Lohse entered with a 7.03 ERA having tossed just one quality start in seven tries. He had allowed four or more runs in five of his seven starts and had lasted just five innings in each of his last two outings.
But Friday was what Counsell called "a Kyle Lohse performance." The right-hander was in a groove with his command from the start and worked at a quick pace to dispose of the suddenly struggling Mets.
"We all need (success) when things aren't going well," Braun said. "It's a challenging game, just mentally and emotionally, trying to stay in a good place and continue to believe in the process when you're not feeling (any) results is such a challenging thing. This is a guy who has had a tremendous amount of success in this league; the last three or four years, every year he ends up with an ERA around 3.50, so when you look up and see a number that's significantly higher than what you're used to, it's no fun.
"For him, he just sets such a great example for everyone in continuing to believe in the process, continuing to believe in himself, knowing that if he puts his work in every day, he'll end up where he should, come the end of the season."
Complete performances like the one the Brewers put forth Friday have been few and far between for Milwaukee this season. But Lohse set the tone and Braun homered twice to lead an offense that recorded seven extra-base hits against Colon and three relievers.
Aramis Ramirez returned to go 3-for-4 with a double and a RBI, while Gerardo Parra homered as part of a three-hit night.
"We've had plenty of nights like this, but ultimately we've been on the other side of them," Braun said. "It's nice to have one like this where things go so well on both sides of the ball. We've been playing better the last couple weeks, much better baseball, much more consistent baseball.
"In the games we're losing, we're playing better, doing the things we need to do to put ourselves where we have at least a chance to win and compete every night. Hopefully we continue the things we've been doing."
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