Lohse’s strong start not enough as Rockies beat Brewers 5-1

DENVER (AP) — Kyle Lohse had his best start in more than a month. It wasn’t enough for the Milwaukee Brewers.

Lohse tossed six strong innings and Adam Lind homered but the Colorado Rockies’ clutch two-out hitting helped hand Milwaukee a 5-1 loss Saturday.

Gerardo Parra had two hits and stole a base for the Brewers.

Lohse needed just 76 pitches to get through six innings, but one mistake doomed him to his fifth straight loss. He took solace in the fact he held the Rockies to three runs and four hits before being lifted for a pinch-hitter in the seventh inning.

“It’s frustrating to lose a ballgame, but I try to look at the positives,” Lohse said. “I found a lot personally out of that outing today.”

Lohse (3-9) had his best outing in a month but is 0-5 with a 7.59 ERA in his last seven starts. He has not won since throwing eight shutout innings against the New York Mets on May 15.

Lohse’s only walk of the game preceded a meaty changeup to Charlie Blackmon in the fifth. Blackmon turned on the 80-mph pitch for a two-out, two-run homer that gave the Rockies a 3-0 lead.

“Kyle pitched great,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. “He gave up the homer on the changeup, but I thought his changeup was a really effective pitch today. He can definitely gain some confidence from it because he pitched well. National League game, otherwise he’s probably throwing a complete game today the way he’s pitching.”

Colorado had lost nine of its last 10 before getting a strong outing from Chad Bettis (3-2), who got his first win since carrying a no-hitter into the eighth inning at Philadelphia on May 29. He allowed one run and five hits, walked two and struck out five in 6 1-3 innings.

Bettis got the Rockies off to a good start by holding Milwaukee scoreless until the sixth. It was the first time in six games a Colorado opponent didn’t score in the first inning.

“We hit a few balls hard at people, but for the most part he did a really good job of commanding all his pitches to both sides of the plate, consistently getting ahead,” Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun said. “He was really good today.”

The offense, which hit .215 in the previous 10 games, gave Bettis enough support to get the win.

Nolan Arenado led off the second with a double, moved to third on a groundout and scored on Michael McKenry’s sacrifice fly to make it 1-0.

After Blackmon went deep, Lind got a run back in the sixth with a two-out home run off Bettis. It was Lind’s 10th of the season and cut the deficit to 3-1.

The Brewers mounted a rally in the seventh when Hernan Perez reached on a one-out double, went to third on a wild pitch and Martin Maldonado walked. Tommy Kahnle relieved Bettis and got pinch-hitter Jonathan Lucroy to hit a double play started by Arenado at third.

“Our best chances, we hit a couple balls hard,” Counsell said. "(Jean) Segura hit a ball hard and Luke hit a ball hard.”

Colorado made it 5-1 in the seventh off reliever Michael Blazek on two-out RBI singles by Ben Paulsen and Blackmon.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Brewers: RHP Wily Peralta (strained left oblique) has started throwing but has not been on the mound. Counsell said Peralta should start throwing from the mound next week. ... OF Khris Davis (torn meniscus in right knee) will start swinging a bat in the next “couple of days,” Counsell said. Counsell said it’s the last step in his recovery.

UP NEXT

Brewers: RHP Matt Garza (4-8, 5.07) is 2-4 with a 5.25 ERA in six career starts against Colorado. He was the pitcher of record in a 5-2 loss to the Rockies on April 7.