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Yovani Gallardo had another bad outing last night, as the Milwaukee Brewers lost their second straight game at Cincinnati 8-to-4. Gallardo gave up all eight runs – a season-high – in five-plus innings. He’s 2-and-3 in his last seven starts with an eight-point-four-two E-R-A – and he clearly hasn’t been the same since an oblique muscle injury kept him out of the All-Star Game almost two months ago. Last night’s loss dropped Gallardo to 11-and-7. Jonny Gomes hit a two-run homer. Joey Votto and Scott Rolen both doubled twice and drove in a total of five runs, as Cincinnati increased its lead in the National League Central to seven games over second-place Saint Louis. Reds’ pitching phenom Aroldis Chapman made his big league debut in the eighth inning and retired the side in order. The left-hander from Cuba had the fastest recorded pitch in the Majors this season at 103-miles-an-hour. Sam LeCure got the win in two innings of relief. He’s now 2-and-4. Rickie Weeks homered and singled for Milwaukee, which dropped to 1-and-6 against the Reds this season. Reds’ outfielder Jay Bruce sat out last night’s game with pain on his right side. And former Brewer Laynce Nix was put on the 15-day disabled list with a sprained left ankle. The Brewers will try to salvage a victory in the series finale tonight. Left-hander Chris Narveson will face Reds’ right-hander Johnny Cueto.

Major League teams can expand their rosters from 25 players to 40 today. The Brewers have not announced their September call-ups yet. But manager Ken Macha says it would be “good speculation” that reliever Carlos Villanueva and third baseman Mat Gamel will be recalled from Triple-“A” Nashville. Pitching prospect Jeremy Jeffress is also expected to be up for the month. Gamel is batting .309 at Nashville, after missing the first two months of the season with an injured shoulder. Villanueva was sent down in late July to make room for reliever LaTroy Hawkins, who later had season-ending surgery on his injured throwing shoulder. Villanueva has one save at Triple-“A.” Jeffress, the Brewers’ first-round draft pick in 2006, was converted to a reliever. He pitched at Class-“A” Wisconsin and Brevard County this season before moving up to Double-“A” Huntsville – where he has a one-point-two-six E-R-A in 15 appearances with 15 strikeouts in 14-and-a-third innings. Jeffress was also assigned to the Arizona Fall League starting in October. Brett Lawrie, Milwaukee’s first-rounder in 2008, will also be in the fall league – along with fellow infielder Eric Farris, outfielder Logan Schafer, and pitchers Mike McClendon, Michael Fiers, and Brandon Kintzler.

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The Green Bay Packers did not have to cut anyone to get down to this week’s N-F-L roster limit of 75 players. Veteran corner Al Harris was put on the physically-unable-to-perform list yesterday, along with safety Atari Bigby and rookie running back James Starks. Another first-year running back, Quinn Porter, was placed on injured reserve after hurting a knee in last week’s Packer win over Indianapolis. His agent said Porter suffered a torn M-C-L ligament, but he was getting a second opinion. For Harris, the “PUP” designation means he’ll have to miss at least the first six weeks of the regular season – although he can practice after three weeks. Harris was hoping to be on the Opening Day roster, but no one knows when he’ll be ready to return. Both Bigby and Starks are expected to be healthy when they’re eligible to return.

Third-year quarterback Matt Flynn says he’s looking forward to tomorrow night’s Packer exhibition finale at Kansas City. Starter Aaron Rodgers will only play for one series – and that means Flynn will get some major playing time against the Chiefs. It’s his first experience as being anything close to a starter in the N-F-L. And like Rodgers normally does, Flynn is getting to go over the script of plays for the game, and highlight the ones he likes. This is Flynn’s second year as the Packers’ main back-up – but he missed the exhibition finale a year ago with an injured shoulder. Flynn says he’ll have some fun tomorrow night, and hopefully put up some points. In the first three pre-season games, Flynn completed 27-of-48 passes for 279 yards, two touchdowns, and a pair of interceptions.

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The Wisconsin football team tried to get a taste of the desert yesterday, when they moved their practice to the hot-and-muggy indoor McClain Center. Coach Bret Bielema wanted his players to see what Saturday night will be like, when they open at Nevada-Las Vegas. The forecast is for a high of 106 in Vegas, with lows in the 80’s. Senior guard Bill Nagy said it was hard to breathe in the indoor facility. He said there was not a lot of air circulating, and it heated up quickly with 105 players running around inside. Also yesterday, senior running back Zach Brown announced his decision to red-shirt. He said it would allow him to earn his degree in history before the end of next season. Brown has been nursing knee tendinitis. And with the emergence of back-up running backs Montee Ball and James White, Brown said it made the move easier. He said it’s important to get his degree before he leaves.

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Milwaukee Bucks’ forward Ersan Ilyasova scored 26 points yesterday, to help Turkey beat Greece 76-to-65 at the World Basketball Championships. Ilyasova made all six of his three-point attempts, as his native Turkey went to 3-and-0 and earned a spot in the championship round. Meanwhile, former Wisconsin Badgers’ guard Kirk Penney had 26 points for his native New Zealand in a 108-to-76 victory over Lebanon.

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