Dave Bush might be the Brewers’ Mr. Underrated, and that’s just fine with him.

“I’m not much for accolades,” Bush said, “so I guess it doesn’t really matter to me. I know what I can do out there.”

Bush was solid on Wednesday in the Brewers’ 6-2 loss to the White Sox, allowing two hits and notching two strikeouts in four scoreless innings. Both of Chicago’s hits were in the first, a soft single to center field by Carlos Quentin and a Jermaine Dye bloop over second base that Rickie Weeks couldn’t quite track down.

The right-hander escaped that jam and retired the final 10 batters he faced, throwing 51 pitches before it was time for Brewers relievers to take their turns. Bush was nine pitches short of his target, so he finished his afternoon down in the bullpen.

“I think he’s going to have a great year,” Brewers manager Ken Macha said. “I don’t see why not.”

Bush was not looking that far into the future. The Brewers still have more than three weeks of Spring Training games before the season opener. Macha has not formalized his in-season starting rotation yet, but it appears Bush is slotted for the fifth game of the year, on April 11 against the Cubs.

“The most important thing for me is that I feel good, and I’m getting my pitch count up successfully each time out,” Bush said.

“I’m working into my conditioning and all that,” he continued. “I’m trying not to rush it too much, because we have so much time, but I don’t want it to get late on me, either. I’m trying to take a steady pace.”

That sentiment essentially characterizes Bush’s career. He is 33-31 with a 4.57 ERA in his three years with the Brewers, with at least 185 innings each season.

Bush’s strength is limiting baserunners. He has finished in the National League’s top five in WHIP (walks plus hits per innings pitched) in two of the past three seasons.

He ranked fifth last year at 1.14, behind league leader Cole Hamels (1.08) of the Phillies, Ricky Nolasco of the Marlins, Dan Haren of the D-Backs and Derek Lowe of the Dodgers. The rest of the top 10 reads like an All-Star team: Johan Santana, Ben Sheets, Tim Lincecum, Roy Oswalt, Jake Peavy.

(CC Sabathia, by the way, had a 1.11 WHIP with Cleveland and Milwaukee, but didn’t have enough NL innings to qualify.)

“You can’t score runs if you don’t get guys on base,” Macha said. “I’m very impressed with him. I saw him pitch when he was in Toronto, and he knows what he’s doing out there. He’s got a lot of ‘equipment’ to get you out a lot of different ways.”

That equipment includes a fastball with sink that sits in the 90 mph range, plus four secondary pitches. They include a slider, a curveball that he struggles to command each spring in the dry Arizona air, plus a changeup that he used more last season than ever before.

That was by design. Bush said he had been discouraged in the past — presumably by former pitching coach Mike Maddux — from using his changeup, which is only 4-5 mph slower than his fastball.

“It’s a pitch I’ve always liked, and it wasn’t liked as much as I liked it,” Bush said, choosing his words judiciously. “I was not encouraged to throw it very often, but I started throwing it anyway. It’s a pitch that I felt I’ve had success with.”

Bush characterized his changeup as a “contact pitch,” meaning it is less likely to cause a swing-and-a-miss, but more likely to induce a funky swing and an out in the field.

When he started throwing it more often, the results were pretty clear. Bush started the season 0-3 with a 6.75 ERA and was sent to Triple-A Nashville to get right. He was almost immediately recalled when Yovani Gallardo went down with a knee injury.

After his return, Bush was 9-7 with a 3.83 ERA and a .225 opponents’ batting average. He went 7-3 with a 3.23 ERA over his final 18 regular-season appearances, then allowed one run in 5 1/3 innings of Game 3 of the NL Division Series for Milwaukee’s only postseason win since 1982.

“As I’ve gotten older, I guess I’ve come to a better understanding of what kind of pitcher I am, and what works best for me, and how it works. I’m not going to be a strikeout guy. I’m not going to be a power guy. I’m going to move the ball in the zone. …

“It’s tempting to try to throw harder when you get in trouble. But Greg Maddux was fond of saying that when times get tough, you take a little bit off. Let the hitter get himself out. That’s tough to do sometimes with confidence.”

Hookscenter.com wire report.