Reds 4 Brewers 3
In a gotta-have-it game, Reds rookie Andrew Abbott out pitched Brewers ace and former Cy Young winner Corbin Burnes with six shutout innings as the Reds hung on to beat the Brewers 4-3 Tuesday night in Milwaukee.
It wasn't easy. It never is. Nursing just a 2-0 lead in the 9th, Will Benson doubled the lead with a 418-foot two-run homer. With the four run cushion, David Bell turned to Daniel Duarte to close it out. He served up a two-out, three run homer to Christian Yelich to make it 4-3.
On came Diaz for the 4th time in 5 games, 6th in last 8 and 7th in last 10. He allowed an infield single, a stolen base, and then hit Willy Adames in the head on the 10th pitch of his at-bat. But he notched the final out of for the save.
The wins snaps a five game losing streak to the Brewers and pulls the Reds within 0.5 games of 1st place in the NL Central.
Abbott: He battled through turbulence in throwing a career high 113 pitches to give the Reds all they could have asked for, and then some. 6 IN, 7 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 9 K. He finished the 6th inning with a strikeout to strand a runner at 3rd base. He's thrown 16 consecutive scoreless innings over his last 2+ starts. He began his MLB career with 17.2 scoreless innings. His ERA dips to 1.90.
Big Play Will: Leading 2-0 in the 9th, Will Benson rocketed a two-run homer to make it 4-0. Earlier, Benson started a relay----to India to Luke Maile-----to cut down Andruw Monasterio to end the 4th inning. It was Benson's 3rd outfield assist in the last 7 games.
On the board: Jonathan India slapped one off 3B Monasterio's glove into foul territory and it scored TJ Friedl (HBP) for the first run of the game in the 4th inning.
Snapped: Joey Votto broke and 0 for 18 skid with an RBI single to score Matt McLain (BB) in the 4th inning to make it 2-0 Reds.
On base machine: McLain reached three times with 2 H, BB
Corbin Burness: 6 IN, 2 R. His scoreless innings streak was snapped at 18 when the Reds reached him for two runs in the 4th inning. He had allowed just two runs over his two previous starts vs the Reds (12 innings).
Bullpen: 3 IN.......Ian Gibaut 1.0 IN, 0 R....working around a 1 out BB.....Lucas Sims 1.0, 0 R....working around leadoff walk.....Daniel Duarte 0.2 IN, 3 R.....
Alexis Diaz 0.1 IN, save.
Umpiring: The home plate work was subpar, again. David Bell was barking early and often. He really got heated on a balk call against Abbott.
Perspective: Since 1913, Reds lowest ERA thru 10 career games (all starts) Tom Browning 1.65, Andrew Abbott 1.90, Mike Leake 2.45, Wayne Simpson 2.48. Per Joel Luckhaupt, Twitter.
How the Reds scored
4th: India RBI single, 1-0 Reds
4th: Votto RBI single, 2-0 Reds
9th: Benson 2-run HR (7), 4-0 Reds