By Jack Ankony, The Chicago Dogs

Garrett Christman exited Tuesday’s game in the seventh inning with the Dogs trailing Milwaukee, but his head was held high.

Christman had just completed his longest outing of the season and kept the Dogs in a position to win the game, trailing 2-0 when Juan Echevarria entered in relief. Christman tossed 6.1 innings while allowing six hits, three earned runs, four walks and four strikeouts.

But the Dogs fell short in putting Christman’s quality start to use due to a quiet night at the plate. The Dogs finished with just three hits on Tuesday as they fell to the Milwaukee Milkmen 9-1.

It looked for most of the night as if the Dogs would be shutout, but K.C. Hobson came through in the bottom of the ninth with two strikes and two outs to put the Dogs on the board. He drove an outside pitch the other way for a double to left field, scoring the speedy Anfernee Grier.

However, it was too little too late for the Dogs after struggling to execute with runners in scoring position. The Dogs finished Tuesday’s game with 12 runners left on base as they yearned for a clutch hit inning after inning.

Drawing a season-high 10 walks, the Dogs threatened to score throughout the game, but Milkmen pitcher Myles Smith was masterful in working out of jams. Smith pitched 6.2 innings and allowed two hits, zero earned runs and six strikeouts, but walked seven batters.

With this loss, the Dogs fall three and a half games behind the Milkmen for first place in the American Association North Division. The Dogs have now lost six of their last eight games after being the first team in the league to win 20 games.

But opportunities are plentiful as the midweek series pushes on with an 11:35 a.m. start on Wednesday. The Dogs will turn to Jake Dahlberg for Wednesday’s quick turnaround, which is a welcomed sight after Dahlberg’s impressive start in his last outing versus the Kane County Cougars.

Boxscore