'It's a crappy feeling': Peter Strzelecki takes eighth-inning difficulties hard after loss

Once again on Thursday afternoon the Milwaukee Brewers' offense got off to a great start, with an RBI groundout by Rowdy Tellez and RBI singles by Owen Miller and Jon Singleton plating three first-inning runs.

Then, just as quickly, the bats went cold and the Brewers lost out on a chance at sweeping one of the American League's best teams in the Baltimore Orioles.

Four hits the rest of the way combined with a bullpen blowup over the final three innings sealed the deal in a 6-3 loss at American Family Field.

"We didn't get much going after that," conceded manager Craig Counsell, referring to his team's first-inning effort at the plate.

Starter Kyle Bradish recovered to retire 12 straight and 14 of the final 16 batters he faced after falling into that 3-0 hole, then four relievers held the fort and picked the right-hander up from there as the Orioles offense went to work against Milwaukee's bullpen.

The Brewers have now scored in the first inning in each of their last three games and in five of their last six. Overall they've scored 41 times in the opening frame -- third-most in the National League and sixth-most in the majors.

Milwaukee is now 15-7 when scoring in the first inning and 28-7 when scoring first.

Here are three takeaways from the loss:

Peter Strzelecki struggled Thursday, but is looking for more opportunities

Like any reliever, Peter Strzelecki took his role in the Brewers' defeat hard.

A one-out single in the eighth eventually led to the Orioles drawing to within 3-2, then three batters later a two-run home run by Gunnar Henderson put Baltimore in the lead for good.

Afterward the right-hander was asked about his relatively quick rise from undrafted unknown who made his major-league debut last June 2 to becoming the Brewers' usual setup man in front of Devin Williams.

"(First-base coach) Quintin Berry said it the best," Strzelecki said. "He was like, 'I hope you have many more outings like that just because that means you're in those situations and you're doing it for a long time.' And when he said it at first you're like, 'Wait, what? But then you think about and it makes sense like guys that have done this for a long time have had a lot of outings like this.

"It just stinks when it all happens kind of in a short time period. But you've just got to stay strong mentally and keep pushing, and our whole bullpen is doing that.

"We've been having a good year, so just keep going."

The one-out single surrendered by Strzelecki was almost a swinging bunt by Adley Rutschman, and Luis Urías compounded the issue by throwing the ball away after rushing in to field it.

A two-out double by Anthony Santander one batter later made it 3-2.

Then, after Strzelecki struck out Austin Hays, Henderson got the barrel of his bat on a 93.5-mph four-seamer that was up and actually out of the strike zone and he was strong enough to get it over the wall in left for a two-run homer that put the Orioles in front to stay.

"He's just a good hitter, man. He's got a lot of power," said Strzelecki, who dropped to 3-5 with a 4.40 ERA in a team-high 30 appearances. "Definitely hit the spot we wanted to go to; he just did a better job of hitting. Really, in that outing there was just one pitch (I would like) back -- the slider with two strikes back door to (Santander). But besides that, I felt really good. I thought I was throwing the ball well.

"It's magnified in this situation and in this role. It's a crappy feeling because you don't want to let your team down, but you've just got to stay positive and keep keep pushing. It was a good series overall for our team. It stinks the way it ended, and I feel horrible about it.

"But I'll try to sleep tonight and come back tomorrow and get ready for the next series."

Battle of the Brothers Urías ends in something of a draw

Baltimore infielder Rámon Urías won the battle Thursday, homering off Joel Payamps in the seventh inning to help begin the Baltimore comeback.

Milwaukee's Luis Urías, Rámon's younger brother by three years, won the war with Milwaukee taking two of three from one of the Orioles.

The series was a mixed bag for both players, who squared off against each other in the majors for the first time.

Rámon earned the dreaded Golden Sombrero award by striking out in all four of his plate appearances in Tuesday's opener but rebounded by going 4 for 5 with a single, double, the homer and two runs scored in his final two games.

Individually, Luis had a much tougher go of it with no hits in seven at-bats to go along with the throwing error Thursday. He did draw one walk Tuesday.

Since being reinstated from the injured list -- where he'd been since the second game of the season -- the Brewers infielder is 0 for 14 with a pair of walks over four games.

Urías also hit just .200 in a nine-game injury rehab stint at Class AAA Nashville prior to returning to the Brewers, driving in four runs, so it's clear it's taking some time for him to find his groove after missing 58 games with a left hamstring strain.

Reversal of fortunes for Orioles, A's

At 38-24 after their win Thursday the Orioles are 38-24, making them the third-best team by record in the American League.

The Brewers' next opponent, the Oakland A's, arrive in Milwaukee on the complete opposite end of the spectrum.

Not only are they the worst team in the AL, they're also the worst team in the majors with a bullet at 14-50 and at their current pace, going for a historically bad season.

That being said, the A's did just take two of three at PNC Park from the Pittsburgh Pirates -- who are just a game back of the Brewers in second in the NL Central Division -- while scoring a whopping 20 runs in their last two.

"It doesn't matter who you play," said Brewers right-hander Colin Rea, whose five solid innings and eight strikeouts Thursday went for naught. "In this game it does not matter. They have some guys in their lineup who can swing it. They've got some good pitching.

"So, we've just got to do our job, continue to do what we do and we'll be fine."

Oakland will bring one familiar face to town in utility man Jace Peterson, while outfielder Esteury Ruiz has been tearing it up since the former prospect was sent to the A's last offseason in the deal that brought the Brewers William Contreras and Payamps.

Right-hander Lucas Erceg also pitches out of the bullpen after being traded by Milwaukee last month. He is a 2016 second-round pick who switched from third base to relieving after his career stalled in the minors.

Catcher Manny Piña is currently on the IL and manager Mark Kotsay finished his playing career with the Brewers in 2011.

Jesús Aguilar had been Oakland's first baseman before being released earlier in the week.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: 'It's a crappy feeling': Peter Strzelecki takes role Brewers loss hard