"It's not certain when Trevor Hoffman will get his next save opportunity, although Brewers manager Ken Macha is certain it will happen.

The Brewers veteran and major leagues' all-time saves leader is temporarily stuck on 596 saves while 27-year-old John Axford has taken the closer's role for now.

Hoffman did enter the game Sunday in the Brewers' 10-4 loss to the New York Mets on Sunday, and he pitched effectively while retiring all three batters he faced in the eighth inning.

"Hoffman had a nice inning," Macha said, "and it looked like his command was pretty good today. That was a positive."

The 42-year-old Hoffman pitched in a non-save situation for the third straight game and recorded his third straight scoreless outing.

"He pitched one game in the Minnesota series and one game in the Houston series," Macha said. "I closely scrutinized both those outings. The one in Minnesota he was putting the ball right on the corners; that's how he pitched last year.

"The one against Houston (on Wednesday), pretty much every ball was right down the middle. It would be nice to have him back doing what he did last year. It lengthens your bullpen and gives you a lot of different options at the end of the game or the sixth inning, seventh inning, whatever.

"How that all comes about, we'll see."

Axford has been productive on the home stand, recording his first big-league victory with a scoreless 10th inning against Houston on Thursday and picking up his second save with a perfect ninth inning on Saturday night.

He has the pitches to be a closer, including a mid-90s fastball, but Macha said it still takes more than that to be successful.

"He certainly has the stuff, there's no doubt about that," Macha said. "In order to do things that Trevor has done for as long as he has, the mental aspect of the game really comes into play. Particularly after you go out there and not have a very good outing, how you rebound from that."