MILWAUKEE — On Monday night in Milwaukee, after another bad outing in a second half full of them, Roberto Osuna took his two catchers to dinner. The three men dissected that afternoon's disastrous ninth inning, one containing a colossal game-tying home run and confounding error.

Conversation centered around the closer's consistent troubles and what the trio can do "to make sure this does not happen in the playoffs."

"I think it's a good thing that everything is happening right now so we can be ready for the playoffs," Osuna said Tuesday.

Osuna's troubles existed long before Christian Yelich hammered an 0-2 four-seam fastball over the left center-field fence. After producing a 1.95 ERA and allowing opponents to hit .173 in the first 37 innings of his season, Osuna has regressed dramatically since the All-Star break.

Although the Astros scored a 10th-inning run Monday to beat the Brewers 3-2 and offset Osuna's blown save, his unreliability is among their most pressing concerns as they charge toward a third straight American League West title.

In Osuna's last 17 2/3 innings, hitters have an .830 OPS against him. Of the last 17 hits he's allowed, nine went for extra bases. Five were home runs.

"It's just part of the game. I think everybody goes through a lot of ups and downs, and there's been a lot of ups and downs for me this season," Osuna said before Tuesday's 4-2 Astros loss. "But I feel like I've been doing a great job. We're in first place. We're up by 10 games. I don't think I can complain about anything."

Manager A.J. Hinch restated his confidence in Osuna on Tuesday, ascribing the previous day's bad outing to a good hitter seizing advantage of a marginally mislocated pitch.

"The last thing I'm going to do is show any sort of concern or any sort of panic when it comes to him," Hinch said. "He's really good. He's got really good stuff. He made a mistake to one of the best hitters in baseball, and it tied the game. That's really the extent of his quote-unquote struggles yesterday."

Yelich is the reigning National League Most Valuable Player. The home run was his 43rd of an excellent season. Hitters like that are rare, but they usually are employed by playoff teams — the same opponents Osuna will be asked to master in one month.

"I mean, right now, I have to be honest. I've got my mind thinking about October," Osuna said Tuesday. "Honestly, I think about winning games every day, but I mean, what I'm taking September for me is getting ready for the postseason."

Assigning one facet of Osuna's arsenal sole blame for the struggles is difficult. His four-seam fastball velocity is normal, averaging between 96 and 97 mph, according to BrooksBaseball. Hitters are swinging and missing against Osuna's slider and changeup at a respectable rate.

Earlier in the season, Osuna was predictable early in counts. Of the 40 hits he has yielded this season, 14 have come on the first pitch. Osuna seemed to remedy the problem by implementing more off-speed or secondary pitches to start his at-bats.

Against Yelich on Monday, Osuna started with two cutters before delivering the fatal four-seam fastball.

Osuna's fastball has been hittable all season. In each of the five years preceding this one, he'd allowed a sub-.400 slugging percentage and sub-.250 batting average against it.

After Monday, opponents were slugging .464 and hitting .262 off of his four-seamer. Four of the eight home runs he's allowed came against it. Yelich struck on a quick-pitch fastball, a tactic Osuna often uses in his delivery to disrupt a hitter's timing or concentration.

"That's generally been a pitch that — I mean, he's going to throw it; he's got an electric one — but when he locates it in a little bit better spots, he gets better results," Hinch said. "The quick-tempo fastball is what ... he's given up a few of those quick home runs like that. It's part of his arsenal."

Osuna is a rarity as a reliever. He has feel for five pitches — four-seam fastball, changeup, slider, curveball and sinker. He rarely throws the sinker anymore given the Astros' aversion to the pitch. Osuna spoke last week about learning a curveball from Gerrit Cole but has not yet incorporated it.

Employing the bevy of secondary stuff he has may prove crucial, according to Hinch.

Osuna's changeup usage is more frequent than it's ever been — 18.4 percent, according to BrooksBaseball. The pitch has produced a 49.3 percent whiff rate and an .091 opposing batting average. Two of his eight home runs have been hit against it, though.

"(Monday), I think when I looked up, he'd thrown 10 straight strikes," Hinch said. "That might be more indicative of him needing to spray the ball around a little bit more rather than just being an overall strike thrower that guys can go up there swinging freely."