Box Score
At least the game-winning homer happened with two outs in the eight and not with two outs in the ninth.
The Brewers have been on the right side of this type of game recently, so you had to figure that they were due for a loss like this sooner or later. It happens, it's a long season, and so on. This is not to say that tonight's game should just be accepted and we should move on.
It's pretty clear that Axford and Loe are the only two relievers Ron Roenicke has any confidence in. I don't have much faith in Takashi Saito to suddenly become healthy and reliable, so Mr Melvin is probably going to have to swing a trade sooner or later. In the meantime, Roenicke could stand to be less conventional with his bullpen use.
Last season John Axford was used for outside the confines of the 9th inning on multiple occasions. Tonight would have been a great place to summon him from the bullpen before the 9th inning. With two outs and nobody on in the bottom of the 8th, Loe hit Brandon Phillips, allowing reigning NL MVP Joey Votto to come to the plate representing the go-ahead run. In his career, left handed pitchers have a .208 average and .595 OPS against Axford. Conversely, lefties hit .306 and have a .844 OPS against Loe. I think my case states itself. Granted, there are lots of legitimate reasons Axford was not used tonight (he did throw 28 pitches last night), but assuming everything was normal, Axford, the best reliever the Brewers have, should have faced Votto.
All that aside, the Brewers at least showed signs of life in on the road. It would be nice to get at least split in Florida. The series against the Marlins will be a good gauge to see how excited we should be for the rest of the season.
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