A Schelling For Your Thoughts

MINNEAPOLIS — With one out in the ninth, Joe Benson figured he had one swing to try to hit the home run he needed for the cycle. After that, he focused on just getting a hit and trying to spark a Twins comeback.

He came close in both regards. Benson missed the homer by just a few feet, and the Twins came up a run shy in a 7-6 loss the Indians on Friday in the series opener at Target Field.

In most ballparks, Benson likely would have gotten the homer for the cycle. Instead, the rookie settled for his first four-hit game as his ninth-inning double hit high off the wall in the gap.

“I knew it wasn’t going to get high enough, but I just wanted to get on base and get a rally going,” Benson said. “I’ve only done that a handful of times in the Minor Leagues, probably two or three. And to [get four hits] up here, it’s part luck with the placement. It feels good though.”

Benson doubled with two out in the second, then singled to lead off the fifth and scored the Twins’ first run later in the inning. Leading off the seventh, Benson hit his first career triple on a low liner to the gap in right-center. He scored two batters later on Ben Revere’s single, and added another run in the ninth after his second double.

Benson has doubled in four of his last five games, and six of his nine hits in the Majors have gone for extra bases. His four hits were the most for a Twins rookie since Danny Valencia also had four against the Royals on July 27, 2010.

“He’s a strong kid,” Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. “Tonight you saw a really, really good night where he stayed on the ball [and] drove it all over the place. You saw his speed, the whole package.”

Despite Benson’s best efforts and a late rally by the Twins, they were not able to overcome another poor outing by right-hander Kevin Slowey.

Over four innings, Slowey gave up five runs on seven hits with two strikeouts. Slowey dropped to 0-6 with a 6.51 ERA, becoming the first Twins pitcher to lose six straight games in a season since Boof Bonser dropped eight in a row from June 15-Aug. 18, 2007.

“I just wasn’t able to put anybody away,” Slowey said. “I don’t know that I have the lexicon to adequately describe how disappointed I am in how I threw today, and really how I’ve thrown most of the year to be honest with you. It’s tough, but there’s nothing I can do but come back tomorrow and work hard.”

After a homer in the second by Carlos Santana put Cleveland up 1-0, the Indians added another run in the third before a big third inning cost Slowey. He gave up a leadoff single to Jim Thome and got two out before hitting Shelley Duncan with a pitch.

Lonnie Chisenhall and Lou Marson followed with a pair of singles, with Chisenhall’s hit scoring Thome from second and Marson’s plating a pair of runs.

Aside from a pair of runs on a fielding error in the fifth by Indians center fielder Grady Sizemore, the Twins’ offense was unable to do much against Ubaldo Jimenez. Over 6 1/3 innings, Jimenez allowed three runs (one earned) on five hits and three walks with four strikeouts.

Though it appeared to be nothing more than an tack-on run at the time, Thome belted a two-out homer in the ninth that proved to be the difference in the game.

“No matter what team you’re on, whenever he walks up to the plate, you’re always interested in watching him,” Gardenhire said. “He got us tonight, but we’ve seen him get lots of people, and he’s gotten us plenty of times before. It’s nice to see him back in town, but I’d still like to end up with a win and shake hands.”

Thome crushed a 2-1 fastball from Twins closer Joe Nathan, his 14th of the season and No. 603 in his career.

As Thome rounded the bases, he received a standing ovation from what remained of the Target Field crowd for the 396-foot blast. It was reminiscent of the scene in Philadelphia when Thome was cheered after a pinch-hit two-run homer off Jose Contreras on June 19, 2010, that sparked the Twins’ 13-10 victory after being down 9-4 in the ninth.

“Anytime you can pick up an extra run, or if you can get two runs in the ninth, you never know,” said Thome, who called being cheered by the opposing crowd “very cool.”

“Sometimes that can be big. It ended up being big. They battled back — credit them. But we played a pretty good ballgame tonight. It’s big to get that win.”

Jordan Schelling is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

MILWAUKEE — In just nine days, the Brewers have seen their National League Central lead shrink five games. Even with their magic number to clinch the division at just eight, Brewers fans are getting restless.

Another ugly game against, a 6-2 loss to the Rockies on Wednesday, dropped their lead over the second-place Cardinals to just 5 1/2 games, the smallest it has been in a month. Even so, the Brewers don’t seem worried.

“You’ve got to just battle the adversity,” said right fielder Nyjer Morgan. “The game’s catching us a little bit. We were beating up people a little bit in August and everything, so it’s definitely no time for a panic or nothing like that. It’s just part of the game.”

A bad outing by Shaun Marcum, more sloppy defense and a lack of offense contributed to the loss as the two clubs split the two-game series and the Brewers lost for the sixth time in eight games.

With the Cardinals also winning earlier in the day, the Brewers’ lead dropped to less than six games for the first time since they pushed it from five to six on Aug. 15.

“We’ve been up-and-down all year,” said Brewers manager Ron Roenicke. “We were up for a long time and now we’re just down here, and we need to get back up again.”

The current 2-6 stretch, in which the Brewers have been outscored 30-16, has seen Milwaukee go from a franchise-record divisional lead to a lead small enough to worry fans in a matter of just over a week.

The Brewers finished up a six-game homestand Wednesday with a 2-4 record, the club’s first losing homestand of the season.

“It’s just unexpected,” Marcum said. “These guys in here can score bunches of runs, and they can do it in a hurry. … Coming into today, I thought we’d come out and score a bunch of runs. We didn’t, but that’s pretty much my fault. It’s hard to battle back when you’re down 6-1.”

Marcum was in control through the first two frames, but a three-run third inning shifted the momentum to the Rockies. After Dexter Fowler reached on a fielder’s choice, Mark Ellis singled him home from second and Carlos Gonzalez belted his 26th home run of the season.

Rockies catcher Wilin Rosario added a homer with one out in the fourth, and Colorado tallied two more runs in the fifth on three hits and a sacrifice fly.

Marcum allowed six runs (five earned) on eight hits over five innings. He walked a batter while recording four strikeouts. It was just the sixth time this season Marcum lasted five of fewer innings and the fifth time the right-hander gave up five or more earned runs.

And it was the first time Marcum gave up five or more earned runs in five or fewer innings. Was it just one of those nights for Marcum?

“I guess so. Any time you lose, it’s one of those nights,” he said. “I gave up eight hits, two homers, so it was one of those days where we weren’t locating well and things were up in the zone.”

Rockies starter Kevin Millwood delivered a strong outing, giving up just two runs on four hits over six innings. Millwood had two walks along with a pair of strikeouts.

It was his first start against the Brewers since Aug. 19, 2003, when he was with the Phillies. Millwood has been solid in six starts for the Rockies over the last six weeks, going 3-2 with a 3.68 ERA.

“When I got the call that I was coming here, I knew right away it was probably a last chance for me,” he said. “To take advantage of it a little bit, it feels good.”

Corey Hart led off the first with a triple off Millwood, and scored a batter later on Morgan’s groundout. The Crew would not get another hit, though, until Yuniesky Betancourt’s single to lead off the fifth.

Morgan added the second Brewers run in the sixth, leading off with a single and scoring on a wild pitch four batters later.

It was the sixth time in the last eight games the Brewers scored two runs or fewer.

Brewers slugger Prince Fielder — who made headlines earlier in the evening by saying this season would “probably” be his last in Milwaukee — was asked about the mood in the clubhouse amid the cold snap, and what Roenicke has been saying to the team.

“This isn’t Hoosiers,” Fielder quipped. “There’s nothing really to say. You just have to come out and try to win. We still have a lead, and hopefully we just turn it around.”

Jordan Schelling is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

MILWAUKEE — You’ll have to forgive Ryan Braun for pumping his fist and jumping in the air as he watched his walk-off home run Tuesday night. He had been having a terrible night.

Before his final at-bat, Braun played what he called his “worst 10 innings of the year.”

Fortunately for him and the Brewers, it didn’t matter. Braun finished that last at-bat with one of his biggest hits of the year, giving the Brewers a 2-1 victory in 11 innings and shrinking their magic number for clinching the National League Central to eight.

“I had some terrible at-bats, I swung at about eight sliders in the dirt, I messed up a play on defense that led to a run for them — just an ugly game,” Braun said. “I definitely didn’t play well offensively or defensively. To find a way to get a big hit right there makes me feel a lot better about the day, and at this point in the season, all that matters is winning. Whether it’s pretty or ugly, it doesn’t really matter.”

Braun was not the only one who didn’t play well for the Brewers, either. Several defensive miscues made things more difficult for the pitching staff than they needed to be, and the offense managed just six hits, only three of which came in the final eight innings.

The Brewers’ poor play of late hasn’t come at the best time.

Although they took the series finale from the Phillies on Sunday, the Crew has struggled over the last two weeks as its National League Central lead dropped to as low as six games over the Cardinals. What once looked like an insurmountable lead at 10 1/2 games had gotten low enough to make the fans in Milwaukee start to worry.

So when Braun crushed a full-count sinker from Matt Lindstrom to left-center field on the 10th pitch of the at-bat, it was a huge weight off his shoulders — and the collective shoulders of the club and its fans as it tries to close out the NL Central race.

“I was definitely excited. It’s fun to play meaningful games this time of year,” Braun said. “Obviously, we understand what’s at stake, and we really haven’t been playing good baseball for the last week or so and the trend kind of continued tonight. But we found a way to win, and for me personally, I had plenty of pent-up aggression before I hit that ball.”

After getting ahead 3-0, Braun took a called strike and fouled off a pitch to work the count full. He then fouled off four more pitches before putting his 28th home run over the fence.

Braun now sits just two home runs away from reaching the 30-homer, 30-steal plateau.

“One of their stars took a [great] at-bat. That’s what this game boils down to,” said Rockies manager Jim Tracy.

“A great player did a great thing in a big-time situation. That’s what it boils down to.”

Before Braun’s home run, it was a battle throughout the night for the Brewers.

High pitch counts early limited Zack Greinke to just five innings, though he allowed just one run on five hits and two walks. Greinke needed 33 pitches to get out of a scoreless first inning and 31 more in the third en route to a 116-pitch outing.

“I came out, maybe trying to do too much in the first inning,” Greinke said. “Trying to set the tone to be like that made it a lot tougher than it probably needed to be.”

A pair of doubles in the fourth inning accounted for the only Rockies run against Greinke, with Seth Smith doubling to lead off the frame and Wilin Rosario driving him in with his one-out double two batters later.

Greinke showed moments of brilliance, including a three-batter fifth inning that featured a pair of called third strikes. Out of 15 outs, Greinke had nine strikeouts.

“We didn’t make some plays behind him, so he had to make extra pitches,” said Brewers manager Ron Roenicke. “But I think he really battled well.”

The Brewers finally got on the board in the sixth on Prince Fielder’s 32nd homer, tying the game and keeping Greinke’s home unbeaten streak alive. In 13 starts at Miller Park this season, Greinke is 10-0, and the Brewers have not lost with him on the mound at home.

While Greinke battled to get through five innings, the bullpen was even more impressive over six scoreless innings to close out the ballgame. The bullpen allowed just four hits and two walks while striking out four batters.

Closer John Axford was particularly impressive, pitching both the ninth and 10th for his first multi-inning outing of the season. Axford gave up just one hit with three strikeouts.

“Everyone did a phenomenal job,” Axford said. “For the bullpen to go in and take those innings and do what we could, that’s obviously a huge boost.”

Not only did the bullpen keep the Rockies off the scoreboard, they did so while the Brewers’ offense went four innings without a hit. Between Fielder’s sixth-inning blast and Braun’s walk-off shot in the 11th, the Brewers had just three baserunners, all on walks.

Even with his offense struggling, Roenicke showed faith in the 10th and made a bold move by sending Axford out for a second inning.

Said Roenicke of the move: “We went for it.”

Thanks to Braun, it paid off.

“This time of year, you have to go for it,” Braun said. “When the opportunity’s there, you have to go all in, find a way to win games, take some chances.

“Sometimes good teams find a way to win ugly games and find a way to win games they shouldn’t win. Tonight was definitely one those games.”

Jordan Schelling is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.