MILWAUKEE _ Only a month ago, he was one of the best feel-good stories in MLB. Caleb Smith, who had a promising rookie season derailed by a fluky shoulder injury almost exactly a year ago, started his sophomore season on a tear. At the end of April, Smith sat near the top of the National League leaderboards in ERA and strikeouts. By the start of May, the starting pitcher looked like the obvious choice to represent the Miami Marlins in the All-Star Game in July.
For a month, Smith hasn't been the same pitcher. The Milwaukee Brewers became the latest to disrupt Smith's success story Thursday when they belted three home runs in the first three innings on the way to a 5-1 win in Milwaukee.
The outing, which lasted only five innings with four earned runs, was Smith's sixth straight with at least two earned runs and the fifth time in a row he failed to reach the seventh inning.
As Smith has drifted back toward the mean, two major issues have plagued him: Hitters are running up his pitch count with long at-bats and he's giving up too many home runs. It took all of two batters for both issues to bite him and the Marlins (23-37) on Thursday.
The bottom of the first began against Lorenzo Cain, the All-Star better known for his defense than his consistent offense. Smith's four-seam fastball began the game in the high 80s and the starter couldn't put away Cain. Smith jumped ahead 1-2 before Cain worked the count full by fouling off three pitches. On the ninth pitch of the at-bat, Smith walked the outfielder.
Christian Yelich didn't wait quite as long. The MVP outfielder jumped on a first-pitch fastball to start the next at-bat and launched a 439-foot home run to right-center field to put Smith in a 2-0 hole. Three batters later, Mike Moustakas jumped on another first-pitch fastball _ up and away to the lefty, just like the pitch to Yelich _ and launched it out of the park to give the Brewers (35-28) a 3-0 lead. For the first time in three days, the 25,409 at Miller Park had reason for sustained cheers against last-place Miami.
Smith never could recover. Milwaukee added another hit in the first inning, then another in the second. Moustakas came to the plate for the second time in the third inning and launched a solo homer to stretch the Brewers' lead to 4-0.
In the fourth, Smith issued his second walk of the game. In the fifth, he coughed up another single and then he was gone. The lefty never put together a clean inning and struck out only two batters before the Marlins pinch hit for him to lead off the sixth.
The deficit was too large for Miami to claw back from, even after utility player Rosell Herrera doubled as the pinch-hitter for Smith and came around to score on a single by outfielder Garrett Cooper. Milwaukee gathered for a mound visit around Freddy Peralta and the starting pitcher got the last two outs he needed to quell the Marlins' sixth-inning feint.
Otherwise, Peralta (3-2) carved through Miami's lineup, which combined for 24 runs to take the first two of the three-game series in Wisconsin. The right-handed pitcher didn't give up a hit until the top of the fourth inning and the double by outfielder Austin Dean only served to break up what would have been eight consecutive strikeouts. In six innings, the righty struck out nine batters and gave up only one run on four hits without a walk.
