Frustration, injuries take a toll

NEW YORK - Hitting Noah Syndergaard in perfect conditions is tough enough.

But trying to catch up to his high-90s fastball with temperatures in the low 40s and a 20-mph wind blowing in your face?

That’s a whole different story. “Good luck,” said Brewers third baseman Travis Shaw, who accounted for one of the 11 strikeouts registered by the long-haired right-hander Sunday as Milwaukee dropped another one-run game, 3-2, to the New York Mets at Citi Field.

“Freakin’ Wiffle Balls at 98 miles an hour. His changeup’s disgusting. It’s what he’s known for. He threw a few balls today that I watched on video, and they seriously looked like Wiffle Balls. “I mean, obviously he was on.” Indeed, Syndergaard was.

After needing 29 pitches to labor through an ultimately scoreless first inning, he found the cruise control. Before long he’d struck out eight consecutive Milwaukee hitters and taken a no-hitter into the fifth, before Hernán Pérez finally broke it up with a leadoff single to left.

“Syndergaard being Syndergaard,” said Lorenzo Cain, who drew a walk and struck out against him. “He was locked in.”

But credit the Brewers for hanging in there behind starter Jhoulys Chacín, who limited the Mets to a lone run himself. It was a 1-0 game in the sixth when a Jesús Aguilar single finally chased Syndergaard.

Cain drew another walk against Robert Gsellman, then with two outs Domingo Santana reached on an infield single to load the bases for Pérez. He sent a ground ball deep into the hole at shortstop that caused Amed Rosario to rush his throw, and the Brewers grabbed a 2-1 lead.

It lasted all of four pitches into the sixth, when Brandon Nimmo took rookie Taylor Williams out to right to tie it.

Jeremy Jeffress and Dan Jennings followed with 21⁄3 innings of scoreless relief to help the Brewers get to the ninth still knotted at 2-2, but Wilmer Flores sent a 1-2 sinker by Matt Albers into the seats in left-center with two outs in the ninth to end it.

It was the second one-run loss in the series for the Brewers, who have become all too familiar with tight games in the early going this season. They finished 3-3 on a difficult road trip that could have turned out much better were it not for a cavalcade of injuries.

“A split on a pretty challenging road trip,” said manager Craig Counsell, who was ejected in the fifth inning.

Milwaukee entered the day with Christian Yelich nearing a return from an oblique strain, but nevertheless on the disabled list. Catcher Manny Piña was going to be used in an emergency situation only as he continues to deal with a sore calf.

Ryan Braun, whose back locked up on him in Saturday’s game, was also out of the lineup. Then in the third inning, Eric Thames was sent to the bench with a left hip/groin strain that he aggravated in a first-inning at-bat.

That left Eric Sogard as the lone healthy player on the bench with the game in the fourth inning, and by the fifth that lack of manpower already was affecting the Brewers.

After Pérez singled, he moved up to second on a groundout and later stole third to give Milwaukee the tying run on third with two outs against Syndergaard.

With Chacín due up, Counsell elected to hold onto Braun as a pinch-hitting option later in the game as well as Sogard and instead let his pitcher hit.

Chacín grounded out on what was a close play at first, then was replaced by Williams on the mound. With more manpower available, it would have been a nobrainer to pinch-hit for Chacín.

“The way Syndergaard was pitching, to me it was not a great offensive situation,” Counsell said.

Counsell was ejected in the next inning trying to protect Jett Bandy, his only healthy catcher, after Bandy started jawing at home-plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt after a called third strike.

“I just wanted to make sure that Jett didn’t get ejected,” Counsell said. “I don’t think I did a lot to get ejected, frankly.”

Bench coach Pat Murphy took over for Counsell and eventually used both Sogard and Braun, to no avail. Now, the Brewers have to figure out a way to get closer to full strength with regard to their roster.

The hope is, with a return to the climate-controlled conditions at Miller Park this week, that things will start to normalize. But, as Counsell seemed to indicate, a roster move or two also could be coming because the Brewers can’t afford to play short-handed much longer.