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Brewers stumble to fourth consecutive loss

MILWAUKEE — The Milwaukee Brewers are a team completely out of sync.

And it took only eight games to get there.

Showing little life on offense and again issuing costly walks, the Brewers dropped their fourth game in a row Tuesday night, 6-1, to Cincinnati as 27,441 fans sat on their hands at Miller Park.

“I don’t think anybody wants to start the way we have,” manager Ken Macha said. “If you look at the league statistics, we’re not swinging the bats well, not pitching well and not catching the ball.

“I’m hoping this is just a little dip and we can pull ourselves out of it.”

Starter Manny Parra allowed only three hits in six innings but one was a two-run homer in the third inning by Jerry Hairston Jr., who entered the game with one hit in 11 at-bats (.091) and no runs batted in. That shot snapped a 1-1 tie and no one else scored until the Reds broke through for three runs in the ninth off Carlos Villanueva to ice it.

“(Parra) kept us in the game,” Macha said. “He pitched better as the game went on. His command got better. But two of his runs (came on) walks. Again, we had a lot of walks (seven).”

Reds starter Bronson Arroyo showed up with his usual repertoire of curveball after curveball, mixing in a fastball in the high-80-mph range with good location. That familiar pattern was too much for the Brewers, who managed four hits and one run off Arroyo in 6 1/3 innings.

“That guy’s got a way of keeping you off-balance,” Macha said. “He throws from a wide variety of arm angles.”

Walks have hurt Brewers starters lately and that trend continued with Parra. With one down in the top of the first, he issued a walk to Hairston, who raced around to score when Joey Votto followed with a booming double to right-center.

J.J. Hardy got that run back for the Brewers with a one-out homer in the second inning off Arroyo, hammering a 1-1 fastball 420 feet to left. But Parra walked Willy Taveras to lead off the third and Hairston followed with a home run to left, putting the Reds back on top to stay.

Arroyo found himself in big trouble after Jason Kendall reached to open the bottom of the inning on a throwing error by third baseman Edwin Encarnacion. Parra fouled out trying to bunt and Craig Counsell bounced into a force at second but Corey Hart walked and Ryan Braun loaded the bases with an infield hit up the middle.

Ahead in the count, 2-0, Prince Fielder took a mighty swing at a curveball from Arroyo and hit a towering popup to Hairston in left that ended that threat.

The Brewers took another run at Arroyo in the seventh when Bill Hall spanked a one-out single to right and Kendall drew a walk. When Macha sent left-handed-hitting Brad Nelson to the plate, Cincinnati’s Dusty Baker countered with lefty Daniel Herrera.

Macha came back with right-handed-hitting Rickie Weeks, who was not in the lineup because of past futility against Arroyo (1 for 20) as well as a sore jaw after being struck by a pitch the previous evening. Weeks worked the count to 3-2 before sending a bouncer up the middle that second baseman Brandon Phillips caught while standing on second base.

From there, it was an easy flip to first for an inning-ending double play.

Villanueva let the game get completely away in the ninth. Ryan Hanigan led off with a bad-hop single past Hall, was bunted to second by Paul Janish and scored when pinch hitter Laynce Nix, a former Brewer, yanked a double into the right-field corner.

Hall saved Villanueva temporarily by making a diving stab of Taveras’ grounder down the line to get an out at first. But Hairston walked, Votto singled in a run and another scored on a bad-hop single by Phillips as Cincinnati pulled ahead by five runs.