Milwaukee Brewers

Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun hit his ninth home run in Wednesday's loss to the Dodgers.

The home run, a solo shot, was Braun's only hit in three at-bats to go with a walk. He's hitting a robust .323/.410/.574 and appears to be in the form that won him an MVP in 2011 and earned him runner-up honors last year.

Brewers starting pitcher Kyle Lohse has been dealing with irritation in his right elbow for the past three starts, so the team finally decided to skip him in the rotation, according to MLB.com. Lohse has been recovering slower than usual between starts as a result of this elbow injury, though it is not expected to be a serious problem moving forward.

"He could go out and pitch," manager Ron Roenicke said. "But because he didn't have a spring training, we would rather try to get rid of this, so we're going to bump him a start."

Lohse is expected to return to the mound at some point in the team's series in Minnesota next week, which runs from Monday through Thursday. The elbow is not expected to require a disabled list trip.

Lohse is 1-5 with a 3.79 ERA since joining the team.  

In case you haven't noticed, the Brewers' Carlos Gomez is 2 for 22 (.091) with 10 strikeouts over his last six games. Yeah, that was inevitable.

How far he'll fall remains to be seen since he's clearly still progressing as a player, but judging from his lack of plate discipline, I'd say he profiles as about a .280 hitter. With his combination of power and speed, that's enough to keep him a regular starter in most Fantasy leagues, but he could have some rough patches ahead.

During these times when he tests your patience, just remember your enthusiasm when he was carrying your Fantasy team in early May. It's not like he's a different player now. He's just streaking a different way.

Brewers starter Wily Peralta took a beating Wednesday against the Dodgers, as he allowed six runs and didn't make it out of the second inning.

His final line: 1 2/3 innings, seven hits, six runs, four earned, two walks and two strikeouts. Peralta's ERA is up to 6.45 and it's starting to look like the Brewers' top prospect just isn't ready for the show.

Brewers pitcher Mike Fiers will get a spot start Saturday against Pittsburgh, MLB.com reports.

Fiers will get the nod with starter Kyle Lohse out due to elbow irritation. Fiers has a 5.93 ERA in eight appearances; he allowed six runs on nine hits over five innings against Arizona in his only start of the year.