CHICAGO -- A month ago, the Brewers had too much pitching and were struggling to find innings for relievers who were rusting on the bullpen bench.

Ah, the good old days.

Now the Brewers, under acting manager Dale Sveum, find themselves scrambling to re-order their staff before their final road series of the regular season, a three-game visit to Cincinnati that begins Friday night. It marks the first time since mid-July that Milwaukee enters a series without at least a share of the National League Wild Card.

Right-hander Jeff Suppan was originally penciled in to start Saturday, but now he's needed Friday. That game was supposed to be started by Seth McClung, but he was called to duty Thursday after the Cubs scored four runs with two outs in the ninth inning to force extras.

The Brewers lost in 12 innings, 7-6. They have dropped 13 of their 17 games this month.

"We can't feel bad for ourselves," said outfielder Ryan Braun, who is hitting .200 in 15 games against the Reds this season with four RBIs. "Obviously, this is our toughest loss of the year, by far. We have to move on and hope that the Mets and Phillies lose some games and we continue to play good baseball."

That's the rub; until their loss Tuesday in Chicago dropped them a half-game behind the Mets in the Wild Card race, the Brewers controlled their own fate. They had held at least a share of first place in the Wild Card standings every day since July 20.

Now they not only need to win games, they need other teams to lose games.

"The last couple of months, we have controlled our own destiny, and now we're no longer in that position," Braun said. "It's definitely not easy, but we need to move on, play hard and try to win every game from here on out."

That could mean further tweaks to the starting rotation, though Sveum left only one "to be announced" on his list of probable pitchers for the weekend. Suppan will start Friday, and CC Sabathia is listed to start Sunday. Sveum will have to make a decision about Saturday's starter on Friday, and he has not ruled out using Sabathia on short rest if the situation is right.

Brewers relievers have pitched seven innings in each of the last two games. Even with an expanded September staff, things are stretched a bit thin.

"Today threw things in a little bit of a wrench," Sveum said after the Brewers lost to the Cubs. "Especially with our bullpen, they've been used quite a bit."

The situation is complicated because Ben Sheets is in limbo after leaving Wednesday's start after two innings with a right elbow injury. The Brewers are also hesitant to use left-hander Manny Parra, who has struggled lately and is in uncharted territory in terms of innings pitched this season.

"We're large in numbers, but we're short on starting pitching a little bit," pitching coach Mike Maddux said. "The bullpen has been great, and unfortunately, we were one pitch away from a celebration today. It just didn't happen that way."

Thursday's loss left the Brewers 1 1/2 games behind the Mets and two games behind the NL East-leading Phillies in the race for the National League Wild Card.

The Brewers lost two of three to the Reds at Miller Park on their last homestand and are 7-8 overall against Cincinnati this season. But the Brewers have won four of the six matchups between the teams at Great American Ball Park.

"We're all focused on winning right now," longtime Brewers bullpen coach Bill Castro said. "There have been times where it's September, and you can't wait for the season to be over. Right now, you look, and you're surprised the season could be over soon. You're so caught up in winning."

Pitching matchup
MIL: RHP Jeff Suppan (10-9, 4.85 ERA)
The Brewers badly needed a good outing from Suppan in Game 2 of a doubleheader on Sunday, and Suppan didn't deliver. The Phillies tagged him for six earned runs and eight hits in 3 2/3 innings of a 6-1 loss, and Suppan fell to 0-2 in September after going 5-0 in August. He was moved up a day for this start but will be pitching on regular rest, and he called the change a non-issue because his between-starts bullpen sessions are typically low intensity.

CIN: RHP Ramon Ramirez (0-0, 2.25 ERA)
This will be the second time in a row that the Brewers will get Ramirez, who was skipped in his last turn of the rotation because of a scheduled off-day. In his second big league start on Sept. 9, the righty gave up just one earned run and one hit over six innings with four walks and four strikeouts. He did not figure in the decision in a game won by the Reds, 5-4. Ramirez survived what could have been a disastrous 35-pitch first inning that featured two walks, a balk and an error on a routine popup. Following the second inning, Ramirez faced the minimum number of hitters and retired his final 10 in a row. In two starts and one relief appearance, he has allowed just one right-handed batter to get a hit.

Tidbits
Right-hander Yovani Gallardo, working back from right knee surgery, is to throw 75 pitches on Friday in Phoenix in what could be his final test before rejoining the Brewers for the final week of the season. It was still unclear Thursday whether the Brewers would consider using Gallardo as a starter in the event that Sheets' sore elbow prevents him from pitching. "I can't even answer that now," Sveum said. "Our original thought was limiting him on the field so he doesn't have five or six innings to field four bunts." ... Sveum does not expect to change one thing about the Ned Yost era: Jason Kendall will remain the everyday catcher. Kendall has started 140 of the team's 153 games. "Every game is a playoff game, and whatever lineup you would put in there for a playoff game is what I'm going to put out there for the next 10 games," Sveum said. ... Second baseman Rickie Weeks and third baseman Bill Hall will probably only start against left-handed pitchers through the end of the year. The Reds are starting three consecutive right-handers. ... Dave Bush pitched five good innings on short rest Thursday and has a 3.32 ERA over his last three starts despite allowing four home runs. ... Ray Durham, who has been playing second base against right-handers, was 2-for-5 on Thursday and is hitting .353 (12-for-34) with seven RBIs over his last 11 games. ... Prince Fielder has a hit in nine straight games while hitting .455 with five doubles, four home runs, six runs scored and 11 RBIs.

Tickets
 Buy tickets now to catch the game in person.

On the Internet
 MLB.TV
 Gameday Audio
•  Gameday
•  Official game notes

On television
• FSN Wisconsin

On radio
• WTMJ 620

Up next
• Saturday: Brewers (TBA) at Reds (Johnny Cueto, 8-13, 4.68), 2:55 p.m. CT
• Sunday: Brewers (CC Sabathia, 15-9, 2.88) at Reds (Bronson Arroyo, 15-10, 4.57), 12:15 p.m. CT
• Monday: Off-day