The Cincinnati Reds offense never got going on Wednesday afternoon in Milwaukee. They struggled to make much contact, striking out 18 times as they were shut out 3-0 and fell 1.5 games behind the Brewers in the division. The loss by Cincinnati wrapped up the season series between the two clubs.
| Final | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cincinnati Reds (56-48) | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| Milwaukee Brewers (57-46) | 3 | 9 | 1 |
| W: Peguero (2-3) L: Lively (4-6) SV: Williams (26) | |||
| Statcast | Box Score | Game Thread | |||
Milwaukee and Cincinnati both struggled to get much going early on, but the Brewers had a little something going on in the bottom of the third after a leadoff single and a 1-out double put runners on the corners. William Contreras hit a grounder to shortstop with the contact play on and Joey Wiemer sprinted for the plate, but Matt McLain fielded the ball and fired the ball home to beat him by a wide margin and Tyler Stephenson tagged him out. Ben Lively then came through with a big strikeout of Willy Adames to strand two runners on and keep the game scoreless.
Cincinnati had a golden opportunity to get on the board in the top of the 5th when Jonathan India led off with a ground-rule double. He would move up to third base on a ground out, but back-to-back strikeouts would end the inning. In the top of the 6th inning TJ Friedl missed a go-ahead home run by a matter of feet as he doubled off of the wall in center with two outs. He moved up to third on a wild pitch, but Freddy Peralta’s 13th strikeout of the game ended the inning and kept the game scoreless.
While Ben Lively wasn’t matching Peralta in the strikeout department, he continued to match him in the zero department. A 1-out single in the bottom of the 6th was erased four pitches later when Lively got Sal Frelick to ground into an inning-ending double play.
Milwaukee turned to the bullpen for the top of the 7th inning, bringing in Elvis Peguero to replace Freddy Peralta and face the middle of Cincinnati’s order. Jake Fraley led off the inning with a grounder to second base, but Brice Turang couldn’t come up with it and Fraley reached on an error. It mattered little as Fraley was caught stealing two pitches later. Joey Votto would single later in the inning, but he’d be stranded on the bases.
The Brewers finally broke through in the bottom of the 7th inning when Tyrone Taylor hit a 417-foot 2-run homer off of Lively that gave Milwaukee a 2-0 lead. After a 2-out infield single by Joey Wiemer, Reds manager David Bell headed out to the mound to make a pitching change and called on Alex Young to enter the game to face Christian Yelich. He’d get a ground out to second base to end the inning.
Cincinnati headed to the plate in the 8th inning to face Joel Payamps, who entered the game having held the Reds without a hit in 15 at-bats this season. Tyler Stephenson looked like he may have had a hit after a hard grounder wasn’t fielded cleanly by a sliding third baseman, but he recovered and fired a bullet across the infield to beat the catcher to the bag for the first out of the inning. Elly De La Cruz broke through with the first hit by a Red against Payamps, picking up a single on a line drive into right field with two outs in the inning. TJ Friedl would hit a hard grounder to first base that Owen Miller couldn’t initially come up with cleanly, but he recovered and dove to the bag to beat Friedl and end the inning.
Fernando Cruz took over for the Reds in the bottom of the 8th inning. After getting the first two hitters of the inning out, he walked Sal Frelick on four pitches. Andruw Monasterio then doubled him in to extend the Brewers lead to 3-0.
Milwaukee turned to Devin Williams for the 9th. Like Payamps, the Reds entered the inning hitless against him – they were 0-24 on the season. He kept that streak going as he retired the side in order with two strikeouts and a ground out to pick up his 26th save and seal the Brewers victory.
Key Moment of the Game
Tyrone Taylor’s 2-run home run in the 7th inning that broke a scoreless tie.
Notes Worth Noting
The Reds struck out 18 times and didn’t walk once. That’s not ideal.
TJ Friedl and Joey Votto both had two hits in the game. The rest of the team also had two hits.
Up Next for the Cincinnati Reds
Cincinnati Reds vs Los Angeles Dodgers
Friday July 28th, 10:10pm ET
Brandon Williamson (2-2, 4.60 ERA) vs Bobby Miller (6-1, 4.28 ERA)
