Indians, Lowe are battered by Brewers

Associated Press

PHOENIX

Randy Wolf didn’t yield a hit, but the Milwaukee left-hander was a tad miffed at not making it through three complete innings.

Wolf and five relievers held the Cleveland Indians to three hits and the Brewers belted four home runs in a 12-2 win Friday.

Cristian Guzman lined a single to center with two outs in the seventh off Manny Parra for Cleveland’s first hit. Felix Pie had a bloop double in the eighth and Andy LaRoche hit a two-run double in the ninth.

Mat Gamel hit a two-run homer, while Nyjer Morgan, Brooks Conrad and Jonathan Lucroy had solo shots for Milwaukee, which totaled 16 hits.

“They hit us around pretty good,” Indians manager Manny Acta said. “It looked like the wind was blowing out for only one team.”

Wolf worked 22/3 innings and had two of the Brewers’ nine strikeouts. The left-hander retired eight straight, then issued two walks and was replaced by Juan Perez, who struck out Jason Kipnis.

Cleveland starter Derek Lowe gave up three runs on four hits over three innings. He also walked three.

“Of all our pitchers, Derek probably threw the ball the best, but was hurt by walks. He threw some good sinkers and sliders,” Acta said.

Non-roster Indians invitees Dan Wheeler and Chris Ray were hit hard. Acta said neither veteran would be judged on one outing.

Lowe judged himself and received a poor grade.

“It was not a very good outing, but I’ll just have to move on and work on gaining better command,” he said. “The walks got me. I’m going to give up hits. I know that. Walks just add extra guys on base.”

With Chris Gomez on second following a walk and stolen base in the third, Lowe got two quick strikes on reigning NL MVP Ryan Braun, but walked him, too. Travis Ishikawa followed with an RBI single for a 3-0 lead.

Ishikawa’s leadoff walk in the second and a wild pitch helped Milwaukee score twice in the second.

Lucroy had three hits.