MILWAUKEE -- Yovani Gallardo was blunt and to the point in his assessment of his outing Tuesday. The right-hander allowed six earned runs -- including a pair of home runs -- over five innings in Milwaukee's 6-4 loss to the Minnesota Twins.
"It sucked," Gallardo said. "It's as simple as that."
After starting the year strong, Gallardo is 1-4 with a 6.55 ERA in his last six starts to raise his one-time sparkling ERA to 4.08 on the season. The right-hander needed 69 pitches to get through the first three innings and ended up throwing 98 in five innings.
"I was just battling with my mechanics," Gallardo said. "The more frustrating thing was it was the total opposite of the bullpen. I warmed up before the game and everything was there. Then I go out and just get out of it. I have to take what I do in the bullpen before the game out there and not try to change anything."
The Twins got on the board with a run in the second inning, but the big blow against Gallardo came in the third. Brian Dozier and Joe Mauer hit back-to-back singles to reach in front of Josh Willingham, who connected for a three-run home run to put Minnesota up 4-1.
After the Brewers got one of those runs back in the fourth, Gallardo served up a two-run home run to Dozier to make it 6-1.
"After giving up four runs, you have to keep it there," Gallardo said. "You aren't allowed to give up any more. The main thing is I have to stop making mistakes with guys on."
Gallardo went through a similar rough stretch last May, going 1-4 with a 5.97 ERA in six starts. He rebounded to have a good five-start run in June only to struggle again in July.
Brewers manager Ron Roenicke is unsure if the issue facing Gallardo this season is the same as it was in 2013, as he feels an issue with the right-hander's rhythm was the cause of last year's woes. The skipper feels it is more of a command problem this time around.
"I don't know what it is but you look at his first and second inning and the balls and strikes are almost the same," Roenicke said. "He can't go through games doing that. Somehow we have to go back to him throwing strikes back down in the zone. He'll make a good pitch and then he'll miss with two up and away. That's not what Yo does when he's pitching well.
"When he's pitching well, he can repeat pitches. This is what's been going on the last three or four games but he's been able to get by, by making a big pitch when he needs to. He didn't do that today. They didn't miss his mistakes."
To add further frustration to his night, Gallardo failed to come through at the plate in what was a big moment early. With the bases loaded with one out and the Brewers down 4-2 in the fourth inning, Gallardo grounded into an inning-ending double play.
Twins starter Samuel Deduno had already walked two batters in the inning and was behind 2-0 on Gallardo when the double play got him out of the jam.
"That's the kind of day it was," Gallardo said. "The one thing I shouldn't do happened. Sure enough, I hit a groundball into a double play. He throws a cutter. Basically every pitch is a cutter. It just got in.
"That's the last thing I want to do. If anything, I'd just rather let 'Seggy' come up in that situation. At that point of the game you are trying to help yourself out. Anything other than that groundball would have helped me."
Roster move: Following the game, the Brewers optioned utility man Elian Herrera to Triple-A Nashville to make room for Aramis Ramirez to be activated from the disabled list Thursday.
The Brewers had to decide whether to send Herrera or infielder Irving Falu down and decided to keep the more natural shortstop on the roster.
"Elly is more an outfielder and can cover those positions while Falu is more a shortstop, second base and third base guy," Roenicke said. "They're kind of the same guy except Falu is more of an infielder and Herrera is a stronger defensive outfielder."
Herrera is hitting .226 with a pair of doubles in 53 at-bats over 24 games for the Brewers this season. The 29-year-old went 6 for 27 in his first stint with Milwaukee in 2014 and was 6 for 26 in his most recent stretch of time in the big leagues.
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