The Brewers have been known to crush opponents with the long ball.

Rarely, though, with their pitching staff, have they suffered the same fate.

But in two straight nights, home runs – grand slams, specifically – have
been the difference as Milwaukee went from a commanding 2-0 lead in the best-of-five National League Division Series to returning home in need of a victory in a winner-take-all Game 5 Friday at Miller Park.

Randy Wolf was the victim – or culprit, depending on your point of view – this time, giving up a two-out slam to Ryan Roberts in the first inning, setting the stage for a 10-6 loss to the Diamondbacks at Chase Field.

"There's been a lot of outings the first inning he scuffled and turned around and really got us into the sixth, seventh inning," manager Ron Roenicke said. "That's what we were hoping he would do."

He most certainly did not, and a day after Shaun Marcum faltered in Game 3, Wolf lasted just three innings, giving up seven runs on eight hits with three walks and two strikeouts.

"My command was horrible today," Wolf said. "The curveball, I couldn't throw for strikes. I think every hitter I got behind in the count. When you do that, it's hard to be successful."

Wolf is normally a location pitcher, relying mainly on his fastball, which he threw 49 percent of the time during the regular season. Wednesday, though, 23 of his 81 pitches were curveballs – 28 percent, compared to 19 percent of his regular season pitches – and of those, only eight were thrown for strikes.

He threw his fastball 31 times, 17 for strikes, with 22 cutters.

Roenicke said that Wolf's pitch selection was based, in large part, on the scouting report.

"I think he thought off-speed was what he needed to do," Roenicke said. "I think (his) curveballs were all down in the zone early, he couldn't throw them for strikes. But Wolfy, when he throws well, he needs to establish the curveball, he needs to establish the change-up. He had trouble doing that, and that's what was getting him behind in the count.

"It's a good-hitting team. We can't just go at them with fastballs. You have to be able to mix up the pitches and get ahead in the count."

Wolf said that he had a weird bullpen session thanks to a broken jock strap but felt fine, physically.

"I felt great going into it," Wolf said. "They came out swinging. When you get behind in the count and don't make your pitches against a team like this, you're going to be in trouble."

Offensive numbers: Wolf's bad start aside, consider Game 4 full of missed opportunities for the Brewers.

Milwaukee batters pounded out 11 hits against Diamondbacks pitchers and put the leadoff man on base six times, but the Brewers stranded eight and went 1-for-13 with runners in scoring position.

Milwaukee had a golden opportunity in the sixth.

Facing rookie Jarrod Parker – making just his second big league appearance – Yuniesky Betancourt singled to lead off the inning and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Carlos Gomez. George Kottaras followed with a walk, and Casey McGehee, pinch-hitting for the pitcher, snapped an 0-for-17 slump with runners in scoring position with a single to left.

That loaded the bases for Corey Hart and forced Parker from the game. With Bryan Shaw pitching, Hart worked the count to 2-0 and then smashed a fastball to center. It looked like it would at least hit the wall for a double but fell just short and Gerardo Parra made the catch at the base of the wall, with Betancourt scoring to make it a 7-4 game.

"When it left the bat you thought, 'it's got a chance'," Roenicke said. "I really liked the way we swung the bat today. I think we've been swinging the bat well – except yesterday. Three out of four games, I really liked the way we swung the bat.

"Today, we had chances to score a lot more runs."

The Brewers are hitting .265 in the series, but in the last two days they've hit just .215 (14-for-65) with 10 strikeouts.

No meat: Especially disturbing has been the performance of the Brewers' duo of Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder. The MVP candidates combined to go 9-for-16 with six runs scored, six RBI and two home runs during Games 1 and 2 in Milwaukee, but were just 3-for-14 with an RBI, three walks and two strikeouts in the two games at Chase Field.

Their regular-season splits were respectable, but still noticeably different. Braun was still a .315 hitter on the road this year (compared to .351 at Miller Park), while Fielder hit .272 on the road and .326 in Milwaukee.

The Brewers' performance at home makes home-field advantage all the more important.

"We're confident with what we do at home," Roenicke said.

Strange feeling: In the two games at Arizona, Brewers pitchers were tagged for 18 runs on 24 hits. Those are odd numbers for a pitching staff that ranked in the upper echelon of the National League this season.

"These two games are certainly not typical of what we've done all year," said Roenicke. "You try to establish some off-speed stuff and you get behind in counts. Then you've got to come in with some fastballs and you get hurt on them."

Yo to go Friday: The Brewers will send Yovani Gallardo to the mound Friday for Game 5. It'll be a rematch of the series opener, with the Diamondbacks starting Ian Kennedy.

First pitch is at 4:07 p.m.