Early power not enough against Giants

07/19/2006
SAN FRANCISCO -- Derrick Turnbow can't catch a break. Doug Davis knows the feeling.
Turnbow, the Brewers' All-Star closer, suffered his fourth straight blown save and cost the lefty Davis a win for the second straight start, as the Brewers dropped a 7-6 heartbreaker to the Giants on Wednesday at AT&T Park.
For the first time in his Cinderella-type year and a half as the Brewers closer, Turnbow (4-6) didn't want to talk about it.
"I'll talk to you guys tomorrow," Turnbow told a gaggle of reporters. "I have to get myself under control."
Turnbow was reminded that Thursday is an off-day, and it was suggested that Wednesday's loss was as much about poor luck as poor pitching. Turnbow repeated his refusal.
"I can't," he said. "I have to get control."
So do the Brewers, who have lost nine of their last 11 games and have dropped consecutive series at Arizona and San Francisco to start the second half. Carlos Lee, Bill Hall and Gabe Gross all homered in the first three innings for an early 6-2 lead against Matt Morris and the Giants, but Milwaukee's offense shut down, and the lead slowly slipped away.
Davis got the start and worked 6 1/3 innings for the Brewers, and scheduled Saturday starter Dave Bush made a surprise relief appearance in the seventh and eighth, while the Giants cut the deficit to 6-5 entering the bottom of the ninth.
With one out and the bases loaded, Ray Durham hit a two-run single that glanced off Turnbow's glove and past second baseman Rickie Weeks. Had Durham's line drive not glanced off Turnbow's glove, Weeks believes he would have been able to initiate a game-ending double play.
"Easy," Weeks said. "It's just their luck right there. We know [Durham] has speed, but it's unfortunate that the ball hit [Turnbow's] glove and had enough to get to the outfield. ... The first reaction for a pitcher is to go after the ball."
Brian Wilson (1-2) worked the ninth for San Francisco and got his first Major League win. He worked around a two-out double by pinch-hitter Tony Gwynn Jr., the rookie's first Major League hit and the only hit by a Brewer over the final six innings.
Durham finished with four RBIs and Turnbow has not converted a save since June 29.
"Nothing's going right for him," Brewers manager Ned Yost said.
Turnbow was sharp in a non-save outing at Arizona on Sunday, but he was unable to convert his three previous save chances. The ninth inning on Wednesday started with a pinch-hit single by Barry Bonds. Turnbow then struck out Omar Vizquel before Steve Finley bounced a double through the middle of the infield that somehow eluded both Weeks and shortstop Hall.
With runners at second and third base, Turnbow intentionally walked Moises Alou to face Durham.
"There's nothing I can do about it or say about it," said Davis of Turnbow, who happened to suffer his last blown save in Davis' last start. "Even if I could say something, I can speak for everyone in saying that we still have confidence in what he's doing. He's throwing more strikes now, his curveball is getting in there for strikes.
"He's still a competitor. I know the results aren't there, but he's looking better. It was freaky out there today."
Bush echoed those words.
"It would be different if he was getting hit around all over the place," Bush said. "A soft single, a ground-ball double, then a ball off the glove. Those are the games that you can't even worry about. You go through stretches where things aren't going your way, and that was a good example of it."
The Brewers struck early against Morris, a longtime St. Louis Cardinal who entered the game 11-4 against Milwaukee in 19 career appearances. Geoff Jenkins, who scored a pair of runs for Milwaukee, knocked a two-out single before Lee launched his team-best 27th home run this season.
Hall homered leading off the second inning, and Gross hit a three-run shot in the third for a 6-1 Brewers lead. But that was it for the Brewers, who were limited to Gwynn's double and a hit batsman over the final six innings. Morris worked seven innings, allowing six earned runs on seven hits.
The Giants cut the lead to 6-4 against Davis on Durham's two-run homer in the fifth inning, and they trimmed it further on a solo homer by Eliezer Alfonzo off Bush in the eighth. Bush, pitching because right-handed reliever Jose Capellan developed a sore shoulder after his outing on Sunday in Arizona, started last Sunday in Arizona and is scheduled to start again on Saturday at Cincinnati on an extra day's rest.
"We like curveballs over sliders against those guys," Yost said. "We figured we'd let Bush throw a 25-pitch outing to substitute for a side day."
Capellan "should be fine" for the start of a series in Cincinnati on Friday, according to Yost. Bush knew on Tuesday night that he would likely be called into duty.

Source: http://milwaukee.brewers.mlb.com/