MILWAUKEE -- Daniel Hudson has plenty of frustration these days. As for answers, well, those are in short supply for the D-backs right-hander.
Hudson's struggles continued Tuesday night as he allowed four runs in the eighth inning, which allowed the Brewers to beat the D-backs, 9-4, at Miller Park.
"It's frustrating," Hudson said. "I'm trying my hardest to figure this out. Just can't seem to get out of this rut right now."
After tossing a scoreless inning against the Blue Jays on June 21, Hudson had a 1.55 ERA and was one of the best setup men in baseball.
Since then, though, it's been nothing short of a disaster for him as his ERA has risen to 6.08.
The 29-year-old two-time Tommy John patient has worked tirelessly with pitching coach Mike Butcher figure out why things have gone so wrong.
"We've looked at pretty much everything you can possibly look at and we've tried to make an adjustment on everything we've seen and it just seems like I can't quite get back into a groove," Hudson said. "I had a good outing in Cincinnati and felt like I was working really downhill and felt like I was pretty much the exact same tonight and was just barely off for a couple batters."
The couple of batters Hudson was referring to were Ryan Braun and Chris Carter, who both drew walks during the eighth. The leadoff hit that Hudson allowed to Hernán Pérez was a grounder back up the middle and the two-run hit he gave up to Scooter Gennett was a jam-shot that fell just beyond second base and out of the reach of a diving Phil Gosselin.
"I threw some good pitches to Braun and Carter and they just didn't swing at them," Hudson said. "I threw everything pretty much where I wanted to. They're the two best power threats and trying not to let them get extended too much. They were just off and couldn't get them to swing. Made a couple of good pitches to Gennett and got in on him pretty good and he was just able to fist it out there over second base."
It was the two walks that stuck with manager Chip Hale.
"The couple of walks really hurt him," Hale said. "When you do walk guys that's when those little broken-bat singles get you."
Hudson is trying hard not to let the struggles overwhelm him.
"It's definitely frustrating and I'm trying my damned hardest to figure it out," he said.