MILWAUKEE -- For the third consecutive day, the Brewers were done in by one big inning. 

The last team in Major League Baseball to lose consecutive games has now dropped three in a row with Tuesday evening's 4-3 loss to the Tigers at American Family Field, and while it wasn’t the only reason, one culprit was another crooked number. 

On Sunday, it was Boston’s nine-run eighth inning. On Monday, it was a three-run Tigers third inning that could have been much, much worse considering it started with three consecutive walks followed by a single and a home run.

On Tuesday, it was Eric Lauer's four-run, 40-pitch marathon of a second inning which featured the Tigers batting around with five hits -- including Kerry Carpenter’s three-run home run, one walk and one mound visit from the athletic trainer for a split nail on Lauer’s left middle finger.

“It was right after the homer, my nail split on the side,” Lauer said. “I don’t want to say it affected me or anything. I don’t feel like it was affecting me.”

Lauer expects to make his next start -- “A lot of super glue,” he said -- and pointed to some small positives buried in an otherwise poor outing that required 85 pitches for three innings, during which Lauer surrendered eight hits. 

After searching for his usual velocity throughout Spring Training and in his first four starts of the regular season, including a stellar outing last week in Seattle -- an outing during which Lauer went 7 2/3 innings, holding the Mariners to two runs on four hits -- he finally found it. Lauer touched 93 mph for the first time this season and topped out at 93.7 mph. 

But he lacked his good command, especially of secondary stuff.

“Overall, I felt like things were coming out way better, and I felt mechanically more in sync,” Lauer said. “It’s more finding those lanes [on either side of home plate]. Once you establish [that] you can’t throw a breaking ball for a strike, they can pretty much eliminate anything that isn’t a strike. I feel like that’s what happened and why they started putting some better swings on balls.

“Today was the day where it felt -- mechanically and stuff-wise -- the most how I would like it to feel. The ease with which I was able to get the ball out of the hand and sync everything up. Now that that’s all in place, I really need to find those lanes. It’s a little unacceptable to not have those lanes right now.” 

Coming off a 3.69 ERA last season while setting career highs for starts and innings, Lauer has a 5.19 ERA through his first five starts of 2023.

“I don't think Eric's pitching his best. No question about it,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. “You're going to have stretches this season like that. [There have] been some really good stretches. You've just got to keep going.” 

The Brewers stayed within striking distance thanks to a group of relievers led by recent call-up Elvis Peguero, who was warming in the bullpen when Brewers athletic trainer Theresa Lau checked on Lauer’s fingernail in the second inning. Peguero took over starting with the fourth and teamed with Joel Payamps and Peter Strzelecki to deliver six scoreless innings with four hits, no walks and four strikeouts. 

That gave Milwaukee's hitters a series of chances to take Lauer off the hook, but they went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position, including a trio of strikeouts in the eighth inning after Luke Voit led off with a double to put the tying run on second base. Willy Adames and Rowdy Tellez struck out swinging against Tigers reliever Mason Englert and William Contreras looked at strike three from Jason Foley. 

As a result, the Brewers have lost consecutive series for the first time this season and need a win in Wednesday's finale against Detroit to avoid being swept in this three-game set. 

“I put us in quite the hole to dig out of in the second, and they came out and did amazing,” Lauer said of the Brewers’ bullpen. “They did their jobs, put up a bunch of zeros and they gave us an opportunity to come back in this game. We were only a swing or two away from it. I was really, really proud about the way they came in after me.”