Another day, another clunker for the offense
A late rally gave the Milwaukee Brewers a chance to end a grueling stretch of the schedule with a flourish.
Instead, they couldn't quite finish off the job and the San Diego Padres exploded with a crooked number against reliever Trevor Gott in extra innings to send the Brewers into a long-anticipated off-day with a whimper and a 6-4 loss.
The loss was the third in a row for the Brewers, tying their season-high, and fifth in six games. Milwaukee's record dropped to 33-23.
Kolten Wong tied the game in the bottom of the eighth with his second homer of the day, a two-run blast off Padres' righty Nick Martinez. The Brewers then put the leadoff runner on to open the ninth but couldn't capitalize.
The Padres pounced quickly on Gott. Jurickson Profar singled automatic extra inning runner Jesus Azocar to third with a single to lead off the 10th and Jake Cronenworth followed with a towering three-run blast to right.
On the heels of a pair of shutouts by Padres pitching Friday and Saturday, the loss was a deflating way to end a stretch of 18 games in 17 days that saw the Brewers play .500 ball.
Wong, who drove in all three Brewers runs, led off the game with his third leadoff homer of the season.
But Padres starter Mike Clevinger, who went only three innings in a return start from the injury list, and relievers Martinez, who ate four innings in a piggyback role, Tim Hill and Taylor Rogers were in total command the rest of the way.
Aside from Wong's second blast, the Brewers best chance came when they loaded the bases with two outs later that same inning but Hill induced a weak popout from Jace Peterson.
Eric Lauer allowed one earned run (three total) over six innings as some batted ball luck and his defense worked against him in a three-run fifth.
After a Trent Grisham leadoff double, Jose Azocar hit a grounder to first base
man Rowdy Tellez, who caught Grisham off second base. Tellez threw to second as Grisham took off for third and a clean relay would have gotten him easily, but shortstop Pablo Reyes fumbled the exchange allowing all runners to reach.
Two unearned runs would wind up scoring off Lauer, including Jurickson Profar’s weakly-hit bloop single that tied the game. Jake Cronenworth followed with an infield hit to make it 2-1, Padres, with no outs still. Lauer got the ground ball he needed to escape with no further damage but even that was hit too weakly by Luke Voit to turn two, leading to another run.
Josh Hader tied the major-league record with his 40th consecutive scoreless appearance in a 1-2-3 ninth inning. Hader has yet to allow a run in 17.2 innings in 2022.