Brewers' performance is awful across the board as they drop one to the Cubs

The best thing about Tuesday's game from the Milwaukee Brewers' perspective?

It won't linger for long.

They managed only five hits against one of the worst pitching staffs in the major leagues, endured the least effective start of Jason Alexander's tenure as an injury fill-in and played some bad defense to boot in an 8-3 stinker of a loss to the Chicago Cubs at American Family Field.

Rowdy Tellez hit his team-leading 17th home run in the first inning and it was all downhill from there for the Brewers, who at least will attempt to turn the page quickly with ace Corbin Burnes taking the mound for a 1:10 p.m. start Wednesday.

"Anytime Burnesy is on the mound it's going to be a good day for us," Tellez said. "We're confident with him on the mound. He obviously the reigning Cy Young winner. He throws the lights out and when you go into a series tied and then get into that rubber match, it's always good to have your ace on the mound."

Alexander was making his sixth start of the season – and first since June 23 against St. Louis – in place of Adrian Houser, who was sent to the injured list after his last outing with an elbow flexor strain.

He was staked to a 2-0 lead three batters in when Tellez capped an eight-pitch at-bat by golfing a curveball from Kyle Hendricks into the right-field seats with Christian Yelich on base.

The homer marked the 10th consecutive hit that went for extra bases for Tellez, tying a franchise record set in 2002 by Ryan Thompson.

Box score: Cubs 8, Brewers 3

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The Brewers' offense put pressure on Hendricks before he departed after three innings and 69 pitches with right shoulder soreness, but they failed to put any more runs on the board against him.

That allowed the Cubs to slowly chip away at the sinker-balling Alexander, who did a good job of keeping the ball on the ground in the early going.

But a brief loss of control resulting in a leadoff walk and then a hit batter eventually led to a run-scoring groundout by Nelson Velázquez in the fourth.

In the fifth, Chicago made a one-out error by Willy Adames hurt when Ian Happ followed with an RBI double and then Seiya Suzuki lined a two-run homer to left. It was Milwaukee's second defensive miscue of the game.

Consecutive singles to open the sixth led to two quick runs after Rafael Ortega's triple to right.

"We didn't play good enough defense to keep some runs off the board early, and then we sent him out there for the sixth and unfortunately that inning just kind of fell apart on us," manager Craig Counsell said. "We needed length from him because we were short in the bullpen tonight but we just couldn't get out of the sixth, unfortunately."

Brent Suter replaced Alexander (2-1) at that point with Alexander's line of eight hits, seven runs (six earned) and two walks to go along with two strikeouts, easily his worst outing to this point from a numbers standpoint.

"I thought it was pretty consistent," Alexander said. "It was pretty smooth sailing the first three innings then things started getting out of hand for me."

But, as Counsell noted, Alexander didn't get a lot of help behind him.

"His pitching style is pitch-to-contact, and we kind of let him down as a defense today," added Tellez. "We should have gotten him out of some situations that allowed more runs. He pitched a good game but all in all, the defense let him down and that's what allowed some of those runs to score."

Then, more poor defense led to another run when the Cubs pulled off a successful double steal with Ortega coming in to score.

Suzuki's single to left made it 8-2.

The Brewers quickly put themselves in position to get back into the game when Matt Swarmer walked the bases loaded in the bottom of the sixth. But Rowan Wick came on and put the fire out quickly by getting Luis Urías to line out and Jace Peterson to ground into a 4-6-3 double play.

"We didn't do enough offensively," said Counsell. "We scored two in the first and just (three) hits after that. A little rally in the sixth, but obviously it didn't materialize."

Suter threw 2⅔ innings before being replaced by utility man Mike Brosseau for the ninth. It was Brosseau's second appearance in five games, third this season and seventh of his career, and he has yet to allow a run with Milwaukee.

"You're trying to get three outs and get Mike out of there healthy," said Counsell. "We've got our eye toward tomorrow's game. He's done a nice job. He's throwing strikes and that's what you want. You're hoping they hit it at somebody or somebody makes a nice play.

"We did that, and he got us out of it. It makes us better tomorrow when he can do that."

Added Brosseau: "Try to help the bullpen out as much as possible. It's a long season. When a game gets like that, try to relieve some of the guys out there a little bit give them an extra day and let them be fully rested tomorrow."

Victor Caratini singled in Peterson to cap the scoring in the ninth.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Brewers' Jason Alexander struggles in ugly loss to Cubs