On Sunday, a lack of clutch hitting and an untimely defensive lapse proved the culprits. A half-inning after his two-run double tied the game, second baseman Tony Graffanino was charged with an error that set up a three-run Atlanta Braves outburst and sent the Brewers to a 7-4 loss at Turner Field.
Braves catcher Brian McCann had a four-RBI afternoon and helped extend the Brewers' road woes. The Brewers have played six series away from Miller Park since the All-Star break and have lost all six, each by a 2-1 margin. Milwaukee's 21-38 road record is the second-worst in the National League.
"If we knew what the deal was on the road, we would have fixed it in April," losing pitcher Matt Wise (5-6) said. "We've talked about it a lot. Enough is enough. Now we go into Pittsburgh, and they've played us tough, but we need to get in there and sweep them. Not just win the series, but sweep them."
Simply winning a series might be a better place to start. The Brewers had plenty of chances early in Sunday's game against Braves starter Tim Hudson, but they went hitless in their first 11 at-bats with runners in scoring position, a stretch that included Mike Rivera's run-scoring groundout in the sixth.
The Brewers were trailing, 4-1, and had two runners on base with no outs in the seventh when Prince Fielder grounded into a double play. Gabe Gross followed with the Brewers' first clutch hit, an RBI single off Hudson, and two batters later, Graffanino yanked a two-run double off reliever Tyler Yates that knotted the game at 4.
"We put ourselves in a good position right there, and then we just turned around and gave it back," Graffanino said.
Things unraveled on Wise and the Brewers in the bottom of the inning, when Graffanino, covering first base, couldn't handle a low throw from Fielder on Edgar Renteria's sacrifice bunt. The error left runners at the corners, no outs and Wise in a huge jam.
"With the bright background, I kind of lost it a little bit," said Graffanino, who had not committed an error in his 15 previous games since being traded from Kansas City. "Then the throw was low and I went down to get it. I should have caught it, bottom line."
Said manager Ned Yost: "If we make that play, they probably don't score anything in that inning."
Instead, Marcus Giles scooted to third on the error and scored the go-ahead run when Chipper Jones, fresh off the disabled list, lifted a sacrifice fly to left field. Wise got a called third strike on Andruw Jones that would have ended the inning if not for the error, but McCann followed with a two-run home run.
With a runner on second base and first open, the Brewers considered walking McCann. But they liked the matchup of Wise's low-and-away changeup against McCann, who struggles with that pitch. Pitching coach Mike Maddux went to the mound and discussed the plan: changeup away, two fastballs inside, then finish McCann with changeups away.
"It was the exact sequence we wanted to throw, I just left [a 3-1 changeup] over the plate, and he crushed it," Wise said.
McCann also hit a two-run single off starter Tomo Ohka in a three-run Atlanta third. McCann is hitting .350 this season and has hit safely in 53 of his last 70 games, but remains a bit of an unknown outside Atlanta.
"We definitely know who he is," Wise said. "One of his holes is changeups below the zone, and I just didn't throw it below the zone. My first four pitches were where I wanted them. That's the most frustrating thing, to have the right game plan but not execute it."
Braves right-hander Chad Paronto (0-1) got the win by recording the final out of the seventh. Bob Wickman worked the ninth for his seventh NL save.
Milwaukee's earlier problems with runners in scoring position had something to do with Hudson, who had at least two runners on base in five of the seven innings in which he worked. But Hudson somehow escaped major damage, allowing three runs on nine hits and a pair of walks.
Ohka, who had surrendered nine total runs in the first innings of his previous two starts, got through a scoreless opening on Sunday despite Giles' leadoff double. But he got into trouble in the third inning, issuing three consecutive two-out walks, including a pass to Andruw Jones that forced in a run. McCann followed with a two-run double for a 3-0 Braves lead.
"He got his pitch count up real high early," Yost said. "He was at 90-some pitches after five [innings], but he kept us in the game. Those balls didn't look like they were missing by much."
Rivera cut the lead to 3-1 with his run-scoring groundout in the sixth, but that was all the Brewers could muster after starting the inning with runners at second and third base and no outs. Jeff Francoeur extended the Braves' lead with a sixth-inning solo homer off reliever Rick Helling.