"For five innings, Yovani Gallardo had reason to feel better about himself.

Baseball games consist of more than five innings, however.

The Milwaukee Brewers' struggling right-hander fell apart in the sixth inning Monday night, extending his string of mediocre / poor outings to five as the Atlanta Braves rallied for a 6-2 victory at Turner Field.

It was the third loss in a row after an opening win on this trip for the Brewers, who have scored a total of three runs in those games.

Worse yet, Gallardo walked away frustrated yet again.

"I haven't been pitching well the last five starts," said Gallardo, 1-2 with an 8.89 earned run average over that stretch. "I should be able to figure it out, and I have to figure it out soon."

For five innings, Gallardo appeared to have rediscovered his old magic against the Braves. Entering the game, he had a career record of 3-0 with a 0.96 ERA in five starts against them, including a two-hit shutout in Milwaukee on April 5, his last solid performance this season.

It began to unravel in the sixth with a four-pitch walk to Chipper Jones leading off the inning. After first baseman Prince Fielder narrowly missed chasing down Dan Uggla's foul pop-up far down the line, Uggla singled through the left side.

Gallardo's control continued to elude him in a five-pitch walk to Freddie Freeman, loading the bases. Alex Gonzalez then jumped on a first-pitch curveball and yanked a grounder into the left-field corner for a three-run double that erased the Brewers' 2-1 lead.

When Nate McLouth dumped an opposite-field single into shallow left to score Gonzalez and make it 5-2, that was all for Gallardo. What appeared to be a bounce-back outing disintegrated into another ugly one.

"I definitely felt better in the first five innings," said Gallardo, who fell to 2-2 with a 6.10 ERA.

"That's the way things are going for me now. In the sixth inning, I lost command a little bit. The walks are going to get you. Then they hit a couple of ground balls that get through the infield."