Rea hangs tough, but Brewers' skid hits 6

MINNEAPOLIS -- One tough inning in each of the two games against the Twins sent the Brewers home with a season-high-tying six-game skid.

Minnesota scored four runs in the third inning, erasing an early deficit in handing Milwaukee a 4-2 loss on Wednesday afternoon at Target Field. The Twins won in walk-off fashion one night earlier, the first blown save of the season for closer Devin Williams

“We’re grinding through it right now,” said Brewers right fielder Brian Anderson, who opened the scoring with a Statcast-projected 411-foot homer before Luis Urías' back-to-back jack gave the Brewers a 2-0 lead in the second inning of the finale.

“Getting those early leads and then giving them away is definitely demoralizing, and it’s tough. But we’ve got a good clubhouse here. We’ve got some guys that are willing to go out and compete each and every day, and that’s what we’re going to keep doing.

“I know it doesn’t look good right now, but we’re going to bounce back from this. I have no doubt.”

Anderson snapped an 18-game homerless streak and Urías homered for the first time this season as his two hits this season have both gone for extra bases. It also was the third time this season Milwaukee has gone back to back and the first since Anderson and Garrett Mitchell did so in the sixth inning on April 4.

Colin Rea (3-4) surrendered four runs on five hits and three walks in five innings, undone by that pivotal Minnesota third.

“Definitely felt a little off from the beginning,” Rea said. “But overall, just tried to battle through it, really, keep us close.”

Rea, coming off five scoreless innings in his previous start against Baltimore, kept Milwaukee close. Perhaps the score should have been even closer.

The third inning proved to be the downfall on Wednesday and Anderson was in the spotlight.

With two runners on and one out, Carlos Correa hit a ball off the right-field wall that deflected away from Anderson, scoring two runs and allowing Correa to reach third with a triple.

Trevor Larnach followed with another drive deep to right field that Anderson tried to jump for but couldn’t catch, allowing Larnach to reach second base.

Correa scored to give the Twins a 3-2 lead before Joey Gallo’s towering popup into short right field fell between Anderson and second baseman Owen Miller. Anderson was coming in on the ball, but Miller tried to make the catch while backtracking and the ball fell in play.

Gallo was thrown out at second, but a fourth run crossed the plate on his single before the out was recorded.

“That was one of those with Gallo hitting, I’m playing the warning track,” Anderson said. “So, popup there, [Miller] had his hands up like he was underneath it camped. So, I thought he was camped under it and I guess it just kept carrying on him.

“Yeah, I mean, we just got to keep going, keep going out there and grinding, and play better baseball overall.”

With a struggling offense amid a losing streak, the margin for error is thin and the third inning proved to be too much to overcome.

“The blooper between Brian and Owen, we’ve got to make a play on that one,” manager Craig Counsell said. “Obviously, that was the fourth run and that ended up being enough. A couple home runs, a shot in the first inning [runners on first and second with one out]. Other than that, we didn’t create much offense.”

Christian Yelich had hits in his first two at-bats and sent another ball the opposite way to the warning track to continue his strong run. He was 5-for-9 in the series and is hitting .325 with six extra-base hits, five RBIs and a 1.000 OPS in his past 10 games.

“He’s definitely swinging the bat well and in a good place,” Counsell said. “Hopefully, we can keep that going. But you got to have multiple guys to create runs, for sure, and that’s what we’re missing right now.”