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Brewers 3 Reds 2
Alex Diaz gave up a game-winning walk off RBI single to Christian Yelich as the Brewers beat the Reds again......this time 3-2. Diaz, pitching for the 3rd time in 4 games, faced three batters and all reached: BB-1B-1B. The Brewers are now 9-2 vs the Reds and increase their lead in the NL Central to 1.5 games.
You are not going to win many games scoring two runs. Not gonna win many games walking 8 batters.
The Reds have now scored just 31 runs in the 11 meetings this season.
Next: Andrew Abbott vs Corbin Burnes, Tuesday, 7:10
Graham Ashcraft: 5.1 IN, 5 H, 2 R, 4 BB, 8 K (T-career high). He was a like traffic cop at rush hour with baserunners all over the place. The Brewers jumped him for BB-SB-1B-R two batters into the first game. With runners on 1st and 3rd and one out in the 3rd, he got a big strike 'em out, throw 'em out at the plate DP. He started the 6th at 95 pitches and allowed a game-tying solo homer to rookie Sal Frelick (1st of career) on pitch 105. He was done after the walk that followed. He'd struck out 7 over his previous three starts combined. Last five outings: 1.50 ERA.
Big outs: Buck Farmer came on at 2-2 in the 6th with a Brewer on and one out. Andruw Monasterio stolen 2nd and then advancement to 3rd on a Farmer wild pitch. But Farmer got a 2-out K to escape further damage. Fernando Cruz stranded a runner on 2nd with 2 outs in the 7th. Derek Law, who threw 20 pitches Sunday, took the 8th, which I would think tells us something about the unavailability of Lucas Sims. Law walked two batters, then threw a wild pitch to put runners on 2nd/3rd with one out. But 3B Spencer Steer threw a grounder home to get a tag out at the plate for out No. 2. Bryce Turang then line a bullet to Jake Fraley in right to end the inning.
Oh my: Elly De La Cruz clobbered a two-run 456-foot homer at 113.7 mph off the bat in the 3rd to give the Reds a 2-1 lead. He was robbed of a HR to start the game when Brewers CF Joey Wiemer made a leaping catch over the wall. Per J.J. Cooper of Baseball America, Elly has the five hardest hit balls by a Reds player this season, 6 of the top 7 and 9 of the top 12.
No 100: Spencer Steer became the first Reds player to record 100 hits with a 2nd inning single. Jonathan India is next in line with 96.
No. 10: Will Benson became the 5th Red to reach double figures in stolen bases. Spencer Steer has 9. Nick Senzel led the team a year ago with 8. Five players is the most since the 1999 team had six with Reese, Cameron, Larkin,
A. Boone, Vaughn, Tucker
Hosed: Benson battled in an 11 pitch at-bat vs Colin Rea before a horrific called strike three. The home plate umpire was a joke. De La Cruz followed with the mammoth blast.
Framed: Brewers catcher William Contreras takes a similar philosophy of a physical basketball team. Team that fouls all the time eventually wears out the referee and he stops calling fouls all the time. Contreras jerks/frames every pitch....eventually umpire accepts balls as strikes.
Ouch: Joey Votto 0 for 4, 2K.......0 for last 18 and 2 for last 36...He's down to .178.
Tyler stuff: Stephenson had two infield singles. That's seven infield hits on the year. He'd entered the night 3 for 31.
He started his 44th game behind the plate, topping his 2022 total of 43.
Non-starter: Jonathan India didn't start for the second time in less than a week.
Bullpen: 3.2 IN........Farmer 0.2 IN, 0 R.....Alex Young 0.2 IN, 0 R......Cruz 0.1 IN, 0 R.....Derek Law 1.0 IN, 0 R....Alexis Diaz 0.0, R.... He has appeared in 3 of 4, 5 of last 7 games and 6 of 9.
How the Reds scored:
3rd: Elly two-run HR (6), 2-1 Reds