MILWAUKEE — leaguered bullpen Gregor Blanco Jersey , but they will remain short-handed when they continue their series against the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday.Right-handers Matt Albers and Joakim Soria have made significant progress as they rehab from hamstring and thigh strains, though neither player is ready to be added to the active roster yet, Brewers manager Craig Counsell said Monday ahead of Milwaukee’s 5-2 victory over the Reds at Miller Park.Albers, out since Aug. 7, is the closest to returning. He performed well during a minor league rehab assignment over the weekend and returned to the team Monday. He reported no more issues with his leg and said he used his time on rehab to work on his sinker and mechanics, two things that were issues as he compiled a 54.22 ERA in four appearances since coming back from a 40-day DL stint for a shoulder injury.Article continues below ...“We’re going to kind of play it day to day and see how it goes,” Counsell said. “He’s doing good. His last three outings went very well. He feels like he accomplished some things and that he’s healthy. He’s ready. We weren’t planning on activating him today unless there was a need. We’ll kind of go with that for the next couple of days, depending on need.”Soria will be evaluated again after he faces batters during a throwing session Tuesday.“We’ll let him get through that, and I’d say Wednesday we’ll probably be able to figure out what our next step is,” Counsell said.Albers was a big part of the Brewers’ early-season success. He had a 1.08 ERA thorough his first 21 appearances while Soria Fernando Rodney Jersey , acquired just ahead of the deadline to shore up what was — at the time — one of the top relief corps in baseball, had not allowed a run in six appearances before giving up a ninth-inning grand slam to the Padres’ Hunter Renfroe one batter before he was injured Aug. 9.With those two out and closer Corey Knebel still relegated to lower-leverage duty while he works through issues, the Brewers’ bullpen has struggled the last few weeks and will likely be short-handed Tuesday night against the Reds with Josh Hader and Jeremy Jeffress having worked Milwaukee’s last two games.A long outing from right-hander Junior Guerra (6-8, 3.73 ERA) would make things much easier Tuesday. Guerra is looking to bounce back from his last outing, when he failed to get through the fourth in an 8-4 loss to the Cubs in Chicago on Wednesday. Returning to Milwaukee should help Guerra, who has a 2.59 ERA in 80 innings at Miller Park.Against the Reds, Guerra has a 5.02 ERA in six career appearances (five starts) but is averaging nearly two full runs lower against Cincinnati in two starts this season (3.09), allowing four earned runs over 11 2/3 innings.Sal Romano’s last start left a bad taste, too. The right-hander only lasted 1 2/3 innings in a loss to Cleveland, surrendering six runs on seven hits and two walks with most of the damage coming during a four-run opening inning.“They did find the holes but I also fell behind every single hitter I faced Jorge De La Rosa Jersey ,” said Romano, who is 7-10 with a 5.31 ERA this season. “It’s just unacceptable. It’s one of those days. I was on a pretty good run and obviously this kind of ruins that.”Prior to that outing, Romano had been on an upswing of sorts. He’d allowed seven runs over his previous 19 2/3 innings over five appearances.“It’s been like pitch good for a couple of weeks, pitch a really, really bad one,” Romano said. “There hasn’t really been that mediocre game where we’re still in the game and we come back and end up winning the game. It’s usually out of reach at the time when I come out of the game.”Romano has never beaten the Brewers in his career. He’s taken the loss in each of his five career starts against Milwaukee, posting a 5.70 ERA in 23 2/3 innings, including an 0-3 mark and 6.32 ERA at Miller Park.He’s fared better this season, allowing only two runs in each of his two starts against Milwaukee but took the loss in both games thanks to a lack of offensive support. PITTSBURGH (AP) — The Milwaukee Brewers‘ playoff push was slowed by a nemesis.Milwaukee’s offense was stymied when Trevor Williams combined with three relievers on a five-hitter that led the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 3-0 victory Saturday night.“He’s impressive. He has a really good game plan and he executes it,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. “He doesn’t miss in the middle of the plate. He doesn’t give you many good pitches to hit. Our guys would tell you they probably got one good pitch to hit each — and that was in three at-bats.”Seeking to reach the postseason for the first time since 2011 Taijuan Walker Jersey , the Brewers had their NL wild-card lead cut to two games over St. Louis. Milwaukee also dropped to 2 ½ games behind the Chicago Cubs in the NL Central with seven games left.The Brewers and Cardinals open a three-game series Monday night in St. Louis. Milwaukee does not play the Cubs again.Milwaukee never got a runner past second base and was shut out for the 12th time this season, but just the second time since the All-Star break. The Brewers were blanked six times in April.Williams (14-9) gave up four hits in six innings, struck out seven and walked one, improving to 4-0 in his last six starts. He has pitched 19 scoreless innings in three outings against the Brewers this season and is 3-1 with a 1.38 ERA in six career games against them. He is 4-2 with a 0.86 ERA in his last seven home starts.Williams pitched six innings of two-hit ball at Milwaukee last Sunday and was worried about facing the same team in consecutive starts.“I know they’ve seen four other pitchers between me, but it always feels like the hitting team has the competitive advantage when you see someone so close,” Williams said. “I think we executed fine with the fastball to all four corners of the strike zone.”Rich Rodriguez, Kyle Crick and Felipe Vazquez followed with one inning each. Vazquez worked around Christian Yelich’s leadoff double in the ninth for his 36th save in 41 chances. Pittsburgh’s 16 shutouts are one behind Detroit, the major league leader.Starling Marte hit a two-run double in the third and Colin Moran added an RBI single in the eighth.Zach Davies (2-7) gave up two runs and four hits in four innings. He is 0-2 in four starts since being sidelined from May 30 to Sept. 2 by inflammation in the rotator cuff of his right shoulder. Davies also fell to 2-5 in his career against Pittsburgh.Davies retired the first two batters in the third before Williams and Adam Frazier singled to keep the inning alive for Marte.“I wouldn’t really change anything about the inning,” Davies said. “The pitches to each guy were executed and they found the barrel of the bat. With Marte, the ball was probably four inches inside. I wanted to go in off the plate but maybe not enough. He saw it http://www.diamondbacksfanproshop.com/authentic-zack-greinke-jersey , went after it and maybe got a little lucky but that’s baseball.”Pittsburgh won for the sixth time in seven games but trails St. Louis by 7½ games for the second NL wild card with nine games left.Moran, Frazier and Corey Dickerson each had two of the Pirates’ 10 hits.BELTING BREWERSMilwaukee has three players with at least 30 home runs — Jesus Aguilar (33), Yelich (31) and Travis Shaw (30) — for the second straight season but just the third time in franchise history. The Brewers’ 203 homers are the fifth-most in franchise history. The record is 231 in 2007.MARTE NEARS MILESTONEMarte needs one home run to become the third player in Pirates’ history to have at least 20 homers and 30 stolen bases in the same season. Barry Bonds did it four times, in 1987 and from 1990-92, and Andy Van Slyke pulled off the feat in 1987 and 1988.TRAINER’S ROOMBrewers: CF Lorenzo Cain (right ribcage soreness) did not start for a third straight game but grounded out as a pinch-hitter in the eighth inning. He could return to the lineup Sunday.Pirates: RHP Joe Musgrove (stress reaction in pelvic bone/strained abdomen) was scratched from his scheduled start Sunday and will not pitch again this season. Musgrove said he first felt pain in his last start before the All-Star break in July. He finishes 6-9 with a 4.06 ERA in 19 starts. … C Francisco Cervelli (gastrointestinal discomfort) did not play after leaving Friday night’s game in the sixth inning.UP NEXTMilwaukee LHP Wade Miley (5-2, 2.08 ERA) has won his last three starts with a 1.69 ERA going into Sunday. RHP Nick Kingham (5-6, 4.69 ERA) will make his first start since Sept. 2 in place of Musgrove.