The Milwaukee Brewers wrapped up the first leg of their six-game road trip with a 6-5 loss to the Colorado Rockies Sunday afternoon.
Milwaukee had a 5-4 lead going into the 8th inning before giving the ball to the recently sure handed John Axford. The last time Axford picked up a loss was on May 1st. Since then, he had worked his ERA from 10.32 down to 3.38 and had a stretch of 33-scoreless outings in 36-appearences. Sunday, Axford fell to 4-4 on the year by allowing consecutive doubles to Troy Tulowitzki and Michael Cuddyer as part of a 2-run 8th inning for Colorado.
AUDIO: Brewers losing pitcher John Axford on his outing :18
Donovan Hand started the game for the Brewers lasting 6-innings while giving up 3-runs for a no decision. Tuesday, Hand had to leave the game early when he took a fastball to the hand trying to bunt against San Diego. As expected, he was able to make his scheduled start Sunday.
Offensively, Jeff Bianchi had a pair of hits and drove in two runs. Yuniesky Betancourt (11) and Norichika Aoki (6) each went deep in the loss.
AUDIO: Brewers manager Ron Roenicke on the loss :08
Milwaukee heads to Wrigley Field tonight where they open a 3-game series with the Cubs. The Brewers are 5 1/2 games behind Chicago for 4th in the division. Kyle Lohse (7-7, 3.37 ERA) will toss for the Brewers against Jeff Samardzija (6-9, 3.94 ERA) of the Cubs. First pitch is 7:05.
