Texas Rangers Fall to Milwaukee Brewers, Drop Third Straight Game

The Texas Rangers were unable to get much going at the plate while Milwaukee won its second straight.

ARLINGTON, Texas — The Texas Rangers lost their third straight game on Saturday, falling to the Milwaukee Brewers, 6-1, at Globe Life Field.

The Rangers (72-51) have not won since beating the Los Angeles Angels on Tuesday. 

The Brewers, who lead the National League Central, got an 11-strikeout performance out of Freddy Peralta (10-8), who kept the Rangers off-balance his entire start. The Brewers' bullpen made the lead hold up. 

Rangers hitters struck out 18 times, setting a season high. 

Dane Dunning (9-5), one game after setting a career-high with 12 strikeouts, went five-plus innings and took the loss. 

The Rangers wrap up the series with Milwaukee (67-57) at 1:35 p.m. Sunday before going on a three-city, nine-game road trip beginning Monday at the Arizona Diamondbacks. 

Brewers 6, Rangers 1

Notables from the Rangers' loss to Milwaukee on Saturday.

Offense Goes Quiet

The Texas Rangers were unable to get their bats going on Saturday, as they were held to four hits, thanks to Brewers starter Freddy Peralta, who allowed all four hits but struck out 11. Unlike Friday night, when the Rangers staged a rally in the ninth to score four runs and cut Milwaukee's lead to one run, the Rangers were unable to get much going once the Brewers removed Peralta. 

Texas' only run came in the third inning when Leody Taveras grounded into a fielder's choice that allowed Travis Jankowski to score. At the time, it cut the Milwaukee lead to 2-1. The Rangers managed to load the bases for clean-up hitter Adolis García later in the inning, but he popped out. 

Nathaniel Lowe was the only batter among the Rangers' top five hitters in the order with a hit. 

Dunning's Struggles

Dane Dunning managed to get through five-plus innings, but it was not easy. He threw more than 60 pitches in the first three innings as control proved to be an issue for the right-hander. It was an issue when he gave up a first-inning home run to the Brewers' Carlos Santana. It was an issue when Willy Adames singled home Santana in the third. Dunning's final act in the sixth was to give up a home run to Adames, which led to his removal from the game. 

Dunning gave up seven hits, three earned runs and a walk while striking out four. 

Martín Pérez took over in relief and went four innings, giving up eight hits and three earned runs, walking two and striking out one. 

Next Up

The Rangers will turn to Max Scherzer (12-4, 3.67) to stop the losing streak. Scherzer has not lost any of his three Rangers starts since joining the team and has given up just four earned runs. He'll take on Brewers starter Adrian Houser (4-4, 4.43) as the Brewers seek a sweep of the series. First pitch is set for 1:35 p.m.

You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.

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