Baserunning gaffes set tone in series-opening loss

MILWAUKEE -- Did the Brewers run their way out of an opportunity to beat young Cardinals starter Carlos Martinez on Friday? Manager Ron Roenicke wondered as much in the wake of a 3-0 loss at Miller Park.

"Really, the first four innings we had people in scoring position," Roenicke said. "First inning, third inning -- ran into outs. We can't do that. When we get people in scoring position and we have chances, we've just got to deliver better."

The Brewers finished 0-for-8 with men in scoring position, but also hurt themselves on the bases. In the first inning after an overturned call at second base gave them two runners aboard with only one out, Adam Lind hit a deep fly out to center field. When the Cardinals bobbled the throw onto the infield, Gerardo Parra broke for third and Ryan Braun for second, but Cardinals third baseman Matt Carpenter stepped up to gather the baseball and retire Braun with relative ease.

Video: STL@MIL: Cards double off Braun attempting to tag up

Two innings later, Brewers starter Matt Garza was caught wandering too far off second base, and was caught in a run-down that resulted in an out at third after another replay review. Moments later, Milwaukee's Jean Segura was thrown out trying to steal second base on the back end of a strike-out, throw-out double play.

Video: STL@MIL: Martinez fans Parra, Yadi throws out Segura

Was Braun's out the most egregious?

"Oh, I don't know," Roenicke said. "You want them to be aggressive and Parra did a nice job; you could tell he knew he was going to be safe. But on the back end, you've just got to watch the play. If you start running and you see -- it was Carpenter -- a player there, then you just stop and go back to first. A lot of things could have changed."

Garza took the blame for his own baserunning mistake in the third, when the Brewers sent three men to the plate, tallied a walk, a single and a strikeout, and somehow nothing more.

"Right now we have to keep fighting through it and not fight ourselves, and play baseball the right way," Garza said. "I screwed up by running into an out and killed a rally right there. Two guys on, no outs, and I can't do that. If I want to win a ballgame, I have to do everything right. So we can't give away outs, and that's exactly what I did."

After Segura's single in that third inning, Martinez didn't allow another hit until the seventh.

"We keep battling but we're just not getting those big hits when we need them," Roenicke said.