Brewers' Lohse gets back to work at Washington

Weather denied Kyle Lohse a chance to put a positive exclamation point on his excellent June.

But with Lohse on quite a roll right now, Milwaukee manager Ron Roenicke will quickly get the right-hander back in action on Wednesday when the Brewers play the third contest of a four-game set with the Washington Nationals.

Lohse began last month with five straight quality starts, going 2-0 with a 2.45 earned run average. He hoped to cap June with a big win over the streaking Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday, but did not return after 1 2/3 innings of work due to a two-hour, 20-minute rain delay.

"It was a tough game for us," Roenicke said following the 2-1 loss in 14 innings. "You got Lohse pitching and he's been pitching so well that you want him out there and circumstances didn't allow us. Once we got too long with the rain delay we didn't feel right bringing him back out."

So, the 34-year-old gets his next start bumped up to just three days after his previous one due to the low pitch count and will try to improve on his 3-6 record and 3.63 ERA through 16 starts.

Lohse is 4-2 lifetime versus the Nationals with a 5.23 ERA in 14 meetings (12 starts).

While Lohse has been racking up quality starts, Washington's Ross Detwiler aims for his first victory since May 10 Wednesday, having gone 0-3 over his last five starts.

The southpaw lasted five innings at the New York Mets on Friday, giving up three runs -- two earned -- on six hits and a pair of walks in his club's 6-4 win. That left Detwiler 2-6 on the season through 12 starts with a 4.13 ERA.

He did experience some tightness in his back during his start versus the Mets, but was able to throw a bullpen session on Monday without issues.

Detwiler, 27, has lost both of his previous career starts versus the Brewers while pitching to a 4.32 ERA.

Milwaukee drew even in this series on Tuesday with a 4-0 victory, finally snapping a scoreless contest with a four-run eighth inning. Juan Francisco drove in the first runs of the game with a double that scored two, while Martin Maldonado and Jeff Bianchi also had RBI hits as the Brewers snapped a six-game slide.

Relievers John Axford, Jim Henderson, Michael Gonzalez, and Francisco Rodriguez combined to throw 3 2/3 scoreless innings after Wily Peralta was forced out of the game with one out in the sixth due to a left hamstring injury. He had allowed just three hits and a pair of walks before exiting.

"He had great command on his fastball and great movement," Roenicke said of his starter. "It was a real nice game for him."

Peralta had to be on top of his game going against Washington's Stephen Strasburg, who got a no-decision despite seven scoreless innings of three-hit ball. He also walked four and struck out eight, but an offense that had plated 23 runs over consecutive victories failed to come through.

"It just didn't work out for us tonight," Strasburg said.

The Nationals won five of eight games versus the Brewers in 2012.