Eovaldi's quality starts streak snapped in Milwaukee

MILWAUKEE -- In a season where the youthful Marlins are getting plenty of on-the-job training, wins have been hard to come by. Right now, so are runs.

For the second straight night, the Marlins were shut out.

Yovani Gallardo threw 6 1/3 scoreless innings on Saturday, while Jonathan Lucroy homered and collected four hits to lift the Brewers to a 6-0 victory at Miller Park.

Lucroy was a triple shy of a cycle, and he ignited a 12-hit Brewers' attack. In the first two games, the Marlins have combined for 11 hits, with six coming on Saturday.

"I didn't expect us to come out these two days and play like this," Marlins manager Mike Redmond said. "I thought we'd come out energized and ready to go, and we got the exact opposite. For me, that's unacceptable."

Miami right-hander Nathan Eovaldi, who hadn't pitched fewer than six innings in his first six starts, was tagged for six runs on 10 hits in four innings.

"Most of the counts, I was behind," Eovaldi said. "I wasn't getting strike one, and then the fastball was up in the zone. It's hard to pitch that way.

"It's definitely frustrating, the way we played last night, and come into today. A long first inning again -- giving up two runs. Just not attacking, really. I've got to attack those guys better."

After the Marlins went 21-17 from June 1 to the All-Star break, Redmond felt his team was past the struggles of the first two months, when his young club was frequently frustrated.

"I think we showed a little life in a couple of innings," Redmond said. "Guys, they've got to get back going. Sometimes with young guys, they take some days off and they lose their mojo, I guess. That's my fault. I've got to go out there and get 'em going. Hopefully, we'll get 'em going."

Lucroy and Rickie Weeks each belted solo homers off Eovaldi. Ryan Braun added a two-run double in the first inning.

Lucroy's homer epitomized how the night went for the Marlins.

In the third inning, Lucroy's drive to right didn't have the distance to clear the fence. But it did when right fielder Giancarlo Stanton made a leaping attempt to make a catch. The ball deflected off Stanton's glove, up and over the wall for the catcher's 14th long ball of the season.

"I thought it was a homer," said Stanton of his initial reaction. "I thought it was over already. But it would have hit the top."

In hindsight, Stanton noted he is glad he avoided a moment like Jose Canseco had a couple of decades ago.

"At least it wasn't off my head like Canseco," Stanton said. "It could have changed the game. We still played [poorly], but little things like that are momentum changers."

The Marlins have been blanked 11 times. They've now gone 24 innings without a run, and their club record is 30 -- from Aug. 12-15, 2012.

After playing well leading into the break, the start of the second half is starting to mirror how the Marlins opened the year. At Washington to open the year, the Nationals shut out Miami in the first two games, marking the only other time the club was blanked in back-to-back games.

The stagnant Miami offense hadn't scored since Derek Dietrich's two-run homer in the fourth inning in a 5-2 loss in 10 innings to the Nationals Sunday at Marlins Park.

The Brewers were the last team to record a shutout, but since June 15, they have seven, the most in the Majors over that span.

Has facing a struggling offensive team like Miami helped?

"I don't know," Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said. "I think we're pitching a lot better, so I don't want to say it's the offense that we're facing. I know one thing: When we don't pitch well, everyone hits us hard."

The Marlins were primed to snap their drought in the sixth inning, loading the bases with one out. But on the first pitch, Logan Morrison bounced into an inning-ending 4-6-3 double play.

In the seventh inning, the Marlins had runners on the corners with one out, only to be turned away when reliever Brandon Kintzler retired Jeff Mathis on a popup to shortstop and struck out Juan Pierre.

Due to the break, Eovaldi was on the mound for the first time in eight days. And in the first inning, the right-hander showed signs of rust.

The Brewers scored twice in the first on Braun's two-run double. But four batters into the inning, it appeared matters would turn out much worse for Eovaldi.

Milwaukee's first four batters reached on hits. But Eovaldi did a nice job minimizing the damage in a frame he faced eight batters and threw 32 pitches. He was able to strand the bases loaded.

"In all honesty, I felt like we came out flat in these first two games, especially offensively," Redmond said. "Eovaldi, he struggled with command and it looked like he was a little up in the zone with his fastball. They hit him pretty good. He gave us everything he could."