Roenicke remains committed to Kintzler

MILWAUKEE -- A day after Brandon Kintzler surrendered an eighth-inning lead for the second straight outing, Brewers manager Ron Roenicke remained committed to the right-hander in a setup role.

"I talked to him after the game in here, and it's like I told you guys, we need Kintzler," Roenicke said. "For our bullpen to be right, he needs to be a guy that's right in the mix of what we do in the seventh and eighth. If we don't have him, it makes a huge difference, especially with [Jim] Henderson out."

Henderson is on the disabled list with a shoulder injury and Tyler Thornburg has not been quite as sharp in recent outings, so Kintzler and left-hander Will Smith are the main bridges to closer Francisco Rodriguez at the moment.

Smith was unavailable Tuesday night after pitching two days in a row.

"We don't have any easy innings," Roenicke said. "They're always on the line. So it's not like I have an option of doing something different. We have to have some right-handers to get through these tough right-handed [hitters] to get to Frankie."

Roenicke said Wednesday that Henderson still has some shoulder discomfort and will probably be sidelined more than the minimum 15 days. When Henderson is ready to pitch, the Brewers will strongly consider a Minor League rehabilitation assignment.