Brewers reliever John Axford took another step back as he failed to make it out of the eighth inning Sunday afternoon against the Cardinals.

Axford gave up a single and walked the next two batters before surrendering a one-out, run-scoring single to Tony Cruz.

"Mechanically, the ball felt good coming out," Axford said. "Today was one of those days where I just didn't physically feel like myself."

The right-hander watched his ERA rise from 9.49 to 9.95 after Sunday's abysmal outing. Manager Ron Roenicke has not considered sending him down to minors to work on his mechanics, according to MLB.com.

"No, it's not [under discussion]," Roenicke said. "We feel he can get it back together. We saw him do it last year, and still feel that he can do it. … It's the same thing that he was in [last season], whether it's confidence, whether it's mechanical. If it's mechanical, Rick [Kranitz, the pitching coach] and Lee [Tunnell, the bullpen coach] will figure it out."

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