Brewers Win 3-1 As Lohse Stifles Padres

Hundley hit a home run tonight. Mandatory Credit: Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports

As I mentioned yesterday, the Padres had not “won” a series since the month of June.  After San Diego defeated Milwaukee in the first two games of their four-game set, it looked like the Friars might have a shot of earning an unfamiliar series victory tonight against the Brew-Crew.

Unfortunately for San Diego’s lineup, they ran into a “Kyle Lohse Buzzsaw” at Miller Park this evening as the veteran starter helped his team earn a 3-1 victory over the Padres.

Before I discuss Lohse, I must mention that Sean O’Sullivan was no “chopped liver” himself in his second career start with San Diego.  In fact, O’Sullivan kept the Friars within striking distance all night long.  Outside of Carlos Gomez’s two-run double in the bottom of the third, San Diego’s starter kept Milwaukee’s lineup relatively in check during his 6.1 innings of work.

The only other run the Brewers scored on the night came on an error by Chase Headley on a pickoff play.  While it was scored an “error,” the ball actually hit the umpire in play as Headley tried to throw the ball to second base to nab Gomez who was on the run from first.  It was a poor throw by Headley, but it was just an unfortunate play for the Friars because the Brewers moved ahead 3-1 in the bottom of the seventh.  At that point though, the three runs surrendered were more than enough for the Brewers to work with when one considers how well O’Sullivan’s counterpart pitched.

Oddly enough, the Padres actually drew first blood in the game when Nick Hundley smacked a solo home run off of Lohse in the top of the third.  Milwaukee’s right-hander buckled down after that gopher-ball though, and Lohse only allowed a total of two more hits over his final four innings of work after that.

The Friars only recorded five hits and drew one walk throughout the game’s nine innings, and their hitters looked more like the incompetent late-June versions of themselves.  Then again, it’s tough for any team to do anything against a guy who pitched as well as Milwaukee’s starter did this evening.

Final Thoughts

Although the loss prevented the Padres from earning a series victory tonight, they will still have another shot tomorrow as Edinson Volquez will take the hill.  Although he struggled to keep his pitch-count low and locate consistently, Volquez managed to earn a win in his last start against the Cardinals at Busch Stadium.  As always, the Friars will have a shot to win if Volquez can stay around the strike-zone with consistency.  If he cannot do that though, the Friars will find themselves with a series split instead of a victory.

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