MILWAUKEE — The ninth inning used to be known as Francisco Cordero time in these parts.

But on this Tuesday night at Miller Park, the Milwaukee Brewers' former closer was in the right-field bullpen wearing the grey uniform with the red trim of the Cincinnati Reds.

Now it's Eric Gagne time.

And those times are proving to be rocky, to say the least.

The Brewers' newest closer, who signed with Milwaukee shortly after Cordero grabbed a four-year deal with the Reds, lost out on his second save when Corey Patterson's towering fly ball just eluded the reach of 6-foot-6 Corey Hart in right field and fell into the picnic area to tie the score at 2.

However, just like Opening Day in Chicago, all was not lost for the Brewers, even with Gagne's blown save.

Rickie Weeks capped a 10th-inning rally with a single that scored J.J. Hardy and provided the Brewers with a 3-2 victory, their fourth in a row in and sixth in seven games this season.

Jeff Suppan looked to be on his way to his second win of the season, holding the Reds to six hits and one run in the first seven innings. But Suppan saw that go by the wayside when Gagne blew his second save in three tries.

Gagne said he was caught up in the moment as the crowd of 27,717 stood and cheered the 2-2 pitch in anticipation of a
1-2-3 inning with two strikeouts. He shook off catcher Jason Kendall's call for a changeup and opted for a fastball.

"I was going too much for the strikeout. I got a little greedy," he said. "I wish I had thrown the changeup. As soon as it left my hand, I knew it was up a little bit."

In addition to Gagne's goof, the Brewers also had to overcome the power pitching of Reds rookie sensation Johnny Cueto.

The right-hander, who struck out 10 and allowed just one hit in his heralded major league debut last week, "came as advertised," Brewers manager Ned Yost said. "A lot of guys in this league are going to have tough nights against this guy."

How much faith does Reds manager Dusty Baker have in his 22-year-old starter who was consistently in the mid-90s with his fastball and showed a biting slider to go along with a curve and changeup?

A lot, based on his decision to let him hit in the seventh.

Trailing 1-0 with a runner on second and one out, Baker sent his hitless rookie to the plate and he proceeded to ground to short, moving Joey Votto to third.

On the surface, it seemed Baker was letting a valuable scoring chance escape. But Patterson, who looked terrible in three at-bats against Suppan, managed to get a ground ball past a diving Weeks at second to score Votto and knot the score at 1.

Yet, perhaps Baker should have gone to his bench and pinch-hit for Cueto. That point came into play in the Brewers' seventh, when Bill Hall opened the inning with his third home run of the homestand to give the Brewers a 2-1 lead.

Cueto left after striking out Hart for the third time. He finished with eight strikeouts and allowed five hits in 6 1⁄3 innings.

Suppan, who can only dream of throwing as hard of Cueto, was equally superb. He scattered four hits through the first six innings and allowed only one runner as far as third.

Suppan also played his role at the plate, too, dropping down a sacrifice bunt in the third to move Hardy to second. Hardy was the first to reach against Cueto with a single to left.

Kendall then continued to make himself and Yost look good in the ninth spot in the lineup, lining a run-scoring single to give the Brewers a 1-0 lead.