Ben Douglas belted his second home run of the season for the Millers in a 3-2 loss to Swift Current on Thursday night. (file photo)

The pitching was there, but the timely hitting wasn't for the Moose Jaw Miller Express on Thursday night in Swift Current.

The Millers stranded seven base runners in a 3-2 loss to the Swift Current Indians, ending their season-high three-game winning streak.

“We grounded out at-bats, we grounded out defensive innings and we got a pretty good outing out of Brandon Acosta, we just couldn't find a way to force across those tying and winning runs,” said head coach Michael Hunt.

It's the type of loss that the Millers haven't really suffered yet this season as their normally potent offence hasn't been held in check on too many occasions, but the top of the order struggled in this one. The one through four hitters in the lineup went a combined 1-for-13 in the loss.

“We did a lot of things right, but we just ended up getting a lot of guys on with one out already and that really limits what you can do motion wise and putting things in motion on the bases,” said Hunt. “We left some guys on and some guys didn't have as good of nights as they have since they've been here, but it was just one of those nights.”

Moose Jaw opened the scoring with a solo home run from Ben Douglas in second inning, but their offence would go quiet after that until the seventh inning. The Millers were able to tie the game at 2-2 on an RBI double by Brady Rogers, only to have Swift Current answer in the bottom half of the inning.

Eros Modena came in to score on an error by Rogers, which ended up being the winning run for the Indians.

The loss wasn't due to pitching as Brandon Acosta put together his second straight strong outing for the Millers. He went seven innings, allowed just three runs – only two earned – on nine hits with five strikeouts and two walks.

This was the third straight game that a Moose Jaw starting pitcher put together a quality start (allowing three runs or less in six or more innings).

“It's great (to have),” said Hunt. “Teams everywhere live on pitching, if you get quality pitching, it always gives you a chance and right now that's exactly what's happening, our starting pitchers are giving us a chance to win every baseball game.”

Swift Current was able to move a bit closer to Moose Jaw in the Central Division with the win, as the Millers lead now sits at 2.5 games on the Indians, while they're five games up on Saskatoon.

Hunt wants his team to move past this game as quickly as possible. “Just have a short memory and go back to business,” he said. Which should be easy as the team returns to the field on Friday night against the Weyburn Beavers at Ross Wells Park. The Millers will return to Swift Current on Saturday afternoon.

You can catch both games online at mjmillerexpress.com with live play-by-play action from the Voice of the Millers, Marc Smith.