MILWAUKEE -- Out in center field, Joey Wiemer bobbled the baseball. When he tried to recover, he bobbled again. 

A chance to score a series victory over Zac Gallen and the D-backs was about to slip away as well. 

With Gallen on the mound for Arizona and the Brewers still not getting much from the middle of the batting order, Wiemer’s misplay loomed critical in a 5-1 loss at American Family Field on Wednesday afternoon. It marked the 19th time in their first 74 games that the Brewers were held to one or no runs. 

“We scored one run. We’ve got to do better than that,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said.

Even after scoring at least five runs in five of the seven games prior to Wednesday, the Brewers rank third from the bottom in weighted runs created plus, at 85, meaning that as a group they are 15 percent below league average in offensive production. Their .677 OPS is last in the National League. They have scored 4.03 runs per game, which would be their lowest output since 2014. 

The issue has been particularly acute in June. Last year’s club home run champion, Rowdy Tellez, has a .391 OPS in 65 plate appearances this month. May star Owen Miller has a .455 OPS in 70 plate appearances. Two-time club MVP Willy Adames has a .529 OPS in 55 plate appearances. Brian Anderson, who made one of the Brewers’ best defensive plays all season on Wednesday but was 0-for-3 at the plate, has a .565 OPS in 68 June plate appearances. 

“They’ve established themselves as good hitters,” Counsell said. “They’re going through stretches right now that they don’t like and it’s tough on them. They know as run producers that play most days that it’s on them a little bit. 

“But they’ll come out of it and we’ll score because of it. Obviously when you’re going through it, it leaves less room for error on the pitching side.”

This is not a problem that can be solved simply with a callup or a Trade Deadline move. Among the Brewers’ remaining options in Triple-A Nashville are outfielder Sal Frelick, MLB Pipeline’s No. 2 Brewers prospect, who returned to action last week after missing about two months with a thumb injury. Perhaps he could provide a jolt like the one the Brewers got last year from Garrett Mitchell. 

The Brewers also have infielder Brice Turang at Nashville trying to get in an offensive rhythm along with another former first-round Draft pick, Keston Hiura, who was activated from the Sounds’ injured list on Wednesday. 

Asked what it will take for the Brewers’ in-house hitters to produce, Anderson said, “I think guys have to trust themselves a little bit more and trust the approach that they’re going to the plate with. It’s believing in their bat path, their abilities and their hands. That’s where we need to go.”

While the Reds have surged to the top of the NL Central with 11 straight wins, the Brewers came home last week on a six-game losing streak and swept the Pirates over the weekend to reclaim the division’s top spot, only to stumble against a youthful and talented D-backs team that runs well and makes contact. 

Those elements led to the game-flipping rally just a few minutes after Brewers right fielder Raimel Tapia hit a solo homer off Gallen in the bottom of the fifth inning for a 1-0 Milwaukee lead. Against Brewers reliever Elvis Peguero, the sixth began ordinarily enough, with a fly out, a Pavin Smith walk and a routine base hit from Emmanuel Rivera toward Wiemer in center.

Wiemer had a maddeningly hard time grasping the baseball. When he finally did, Smith was being waved home. The relay -- Wiemer to Adames to catcher William Contreras -- went smoothly, and it appeared the Brewers might get an out at the plate.

But the ball popped out of Contreras’ glove as he applied a tag, and Smith scored.

When Alek Thomas followed with an RBI single to score Rivera with an unearned run, Arizona had a lead it would not relinquish. Gallen lowered his ERA to 2.84 with seven innings of one-run ball and the D-backs added insurance runs in both the eighth and the ninth to remain unbeaten (8-0-1) in their last nine series on the road.

The Brewers wasted another fine effort from veteran Julio Teheran, who was removed after 88 pitches because of the high-stress nature of his outing, which included four walks, Counsell said. Teheran’s 1.53 ERA matches Wade Miley in 2018 for the best ERA in Brewers history through his first six starts with the team. But the Brewers are 2-4 in those games.

“I think if you ask any of the guys, they would say they are underperforming,” said Anderson. “Hitting is pretty contagious, and I think that we’re just going through one of those little ‘downs’ there. We’re going to pick it back up, it’s just a matter of time.”