ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Everything that went wrong for Kyle Lohse on Monday night happened in the sixth inning, and that was enough to get him beaten.
The Tampa Bay Rays put together two walks and a couple of scratch hits in the decisive inning to beat Lohse and the Milwaukee Brewers 2-1 in the opener of a three-game interleague series.
“It was frustrating,” said Lohse, who sailed through the first five innings. “I thought I made some good pitches. It was a tough one.”
After a walk to Evan Longoria loaded the bases on a pitch Lohse thought was a strike, James Loney popped a single into right-center to drove in both of Tampa Bay’s runs.
“For the most part I was making pitches and doing the things we set out to do,” said Lohse. “It was just unfortunate that the game turned the way it did.”
Jake Odorizzi won his third consecutive start for the Rays, who have taken 10 of 11.
Odorizzi (7-8) allowed one run and three hits in seven innings to beat the team that took him 32nd overall in the 2008 draft.
Mark Reynolds put the Brewers ahead 1-0 with his 18th homer of the season in the third, but the Brewers’ other two hits were infield singles.
Reynolds and Khris Davis hit line drives that were caught at the wall by Rays right fielder Kevin Kiermaier.
“It’s tough when you’re not consistent scoring runs, and when we come up against real good pitching we realize we’re not going to score a lot of runs,” Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said.
“But I still think we have enough guys that we should be able to scratch out more than three hits and more than one run,” he said.
The Brewers lost for the second straight day in a game in which they gave up just two runs.
“That’s baseball. You go through hot streaks, cold streaks,” Reynolds said. “The good teams find consistency in between. We’re just not swinging well right now. At this time next week, we might be talking about how hot we are.”
After Brad Boxberger struck out the side in the eighth, Jake McGee got the final three outs for his 12th save in 13 chances.
Lohse (11-5) benefited from a key defensive play in the fifth when Reynolds, the first baseman, ran down Logan Forsythe’s bloop hit that went into foul territory. Reynolds threw the ball to shortstop Jean Segura, who then made a relay throw to get Forsythe at third.
Lohse was coming off a pair of victories in which he had allowed two runs in 13 2-3 innings. The right-hander dropped to 5-4 in 12 games against the Rays.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Brewers: Second baseman Scooter Gennett was back in the starting lineup for the first time since hurting his right quadriceps last Tuesday.
Rays: Catcher Ryan Hanigan, out with a strained left oblique, could return this weekend.
ON DECK
Brewers: Right-hander Matt Garza (7-7), the 2008 ALCS MVP with the Rays, will start Tuesday night’s game. “He’s not afraid, man,” Rays manager Joe Maddon said. Right-hander Alex Cobb (6-6) will oppose Garza.
SLUMP BUSTED?
Reynolds’ homer was his fourth in five games after he had one in the preceding 37 games. After a 1-for-21 skid, he is 7-for-18 (.389) in five games.
EMPTY FEELING
The crowd of 12,6600 was the smallest to see the Brewers play this season, home or away.
FINAL WORD
Roenicke and Rays manager Joe Maddon were coaches together with the Angels. “Joe is out there, but he’s got great common sense and you don’t usually see that in a guy that’s out there,” Roenicke said “When he explains something to you, it makes total sense.”
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