Milwaukee Brewers shut down by Kyle Kendrick in 8-0 loss to Philadelphia Phillies - Washington Post

MILWAUKEE â€" Brewers manager Ron Roenicke rested Aramis Ramirez and Corey Hart on Sunday, and Kyle Kendrick took advantage of the depleted lineup.

Kendrick pitched eight innings of three-hit ball to help Philadelphia Phillies to an 8-0 victory over slumping Milwaukee.

“I know it’s hard with a lineup where we had two pretty big guns out of there, but I still think we should score some runs,” Roenicke said.

Ramirez and Hart got the day off, and Norichika Aoki also was out of the starting lineup. Aoki pinch-hit in the eighth and struck out swinging.

The Brewers have lost five of seven, and trailed by at least four runs after three innings in each of the losses.

“Someone how we’ve got to keep those runs down at the beginning of the game and give our offense a chance to get a lead sometime,” Roenicke said. “It’s hard all the time when we’re behind.”

The game was held up for seven minutes when showers popped up in the first inning with the retractable roof still open. It takes about 10 minutes for the roof to close completely, and the game was delayed with the Brewers batting in the bottom half when the rain became harder. Most of the Phillies stayed on the field.

“I don’t know what happened,” Roenicke said. “We saw it raining. I don’t know why we didn’t close it right away.”

Kendrick (6-9) struck out seven and walked one. He also threw seven impressive innings in a 1-0 victory at Miami in his previous start.

Domonic Brown drove in four runs and scored twice. Michael Martinez, who began the day hitting .130, homered off Randy Wolf (3-10).

“I wouldn’t say my command was horrible,” Wolf said after the Brewers dropped to 7-17 in his 24 starts. “There were a couple of pitches that I left out over the plate and they took advantage of it. I’m not going to say I was all over the place. I just didn’t make pitches when I needed to.”

Kendrick allowed Nyjer Morgan’s leadoff triple in the first, then trapped the speedster on Rickie Weeks’ hard comebacker. Kendrick tagged out Morgan in a rundown.

“We start off with a leadoff triple to start the game and we don’t get him home,” Roenicke said, calling it a mistake by Morgan to get caught off base. “That kind of set the tone for things.”

Kendrick retired 11 straight batters before walking Jonathan Lucroy to start the seventh.

Ryan Braun went 0 for 3 against Kendrick before doubling in the ninth against Michael Schwimer.

“He gets a medal for that,” Philadelphia manager Charlie Manuel said of Kendrick holding down Braun. The Brewers slugger had homered in each of the first three games of the series.

Wolf, who is 0-4 in his last five starts with a 6.53 ERA, allowed five runs and 10 hits over seven innings.

NOTES: After the game, the Phillies optioned INF Hector Luna to Triple-A Lehigh Valley. The corresponding roster move will be made Monday. More than likely, it will be Placido Polanco, who has been on the 15-day disabled list with lower back inflammation. ... The Phillies gained a split in the series. They haven’t lost a series in Milwaukee since 2007.

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