The game was going well until the 6th inning. The Reds held a 2-1 lead when the bottom of the 6th began, but Sonny Gray, Michael Lorenzen, and Cody Reed combined for six earned runs, five hits allowed, and four walks in the inning that saw the Milwaukee Brewers (6-7) put the game away against the Cincinnati Reds (7-9) on Sunday afternoon. Painful game to watch, but the Reds won the series against an divisional foe and thats better than the alternative.
Cincinnati didnt take much time to get on the scoreboard on Sunday. Nick Castellanos and Eugenio Suarez both drew walks, setting up Jesse Winker with an RBI opportunity in the 1st and he came through with a single through the opened up side of the infield as the Brewers put the shift on him and paid for it. Castellanos came home to score on the single and the Reds grabbed a 1-0 lead.
After the Brewers tied the game up in the bottom of the 3rd inning, Jesse Winker untied it with a quickness. After working a 1-1 count, Winker took an 87 MPH change up from Brandon Woodruff and deposited it 431-feet away near the back of the stadium in right-center field to make it 2-1.
In the top of the 6th inning Eugenio Suarez and Christian Colon both had singles to put runners on the corners with one out, but a double play ended the threat. And that would be the final threat that the Reds mustered on the day, too. The offense went 1-2-3 in the 7th inning, and they did the same in the 8th with the heart of the lineup coming through. Jesse Winker doubled to lead off the 9th inning and hed score on a Freddy Galvis single with two outs to make it 9-3. Phillip Ervin came off the bench to pinch hit and worked a full count before walking. Shogo Akiyama was then hit by a pitch to load the bases for Nick Castellanos and put some real pressure on Alex Claudio and the Brewers despite a 6-run lead. It wasnt to be on the day as a weak grounder to third ended the game.
Much like his counterpart, Sonny Gray struggled with some control in the 1st inning as he walked two Milwaukee Brewers. Unlike his counterpart, he got through the inning without allowing a run, striking out Avisail Garcia to strand two runners. The 2nd inning went quicker and more smoothly for Gray as he picked up two strikeouts in a 1-2-3 inning.
After getting two quick outs to start the 3rd inning, the Brewers got their first hit a single by Keston Hiura. Christian Yelich took an 0-1 fastball and laced it into the right field corner for an RBI double to tie the game up. A 9-pitch at-bat against Logan Morrison ended on a called 3rd strike as Gray escaped the jam with a runner on third (Yelich advanced on the throw to the plate on his double), but his pitch count was piling up he had 64 through three innings.
The 4th inning began with a strikeout on four pitches, but Justin Smoak lined a single on the first pitch of his at-bat to put a runner on. Brock Holt followed up with a fly out for the second out of the frame, but then things started to move in the wrong direction for Sonny Gray. After falling behind 3-0 to Mark Mathias, he grounded the ball to third base only to have Eugenio Suarez bobble the ball and extend the inning. Then Gray fell behind 0-2 to Manny Pina before hitting him with a pitch to load the bases and bring pitching coach Derek Johnson to the mound. Whatever he said worked. Eric Sogard grounded the first pitch of the at-bat to second base to end the threat and preserve a 2-1 lead for Cincinnati.
With the bottom of the order coming up the Reds stuck with Sonny Gray to begin the 6th, but things didnt go as hoped as the Cincinnati right-hander gave up a double to lead off the inning. After a fly out to left, the Brewers put together back-to-back singles to tie the game up and run Gray from the game.
Michael Lorenzen came into the game and walked the first batter he faced on four pitches to load the bases. Keston Hiura singled on the first pitch he saw to put Milwaukee on top 3-2. The struggles for Lorenzen continued as he walked in another run after a full count worked by Christian Yelich. That was followed up by another bases loaded walk, making it 5-2 and ending the day for Lorenzen.
Cody Reed came on and got a ground ball to Suarez at third, who came home for a force out. But the next hitter lined a 2-run single into left and extended the lead to 7-2 as the 6th inning continued to spiral out of control. A line out to shortstop would mercifully end the inning after six runs came across the plate.
Joel Kuhnel came in for the 7th and things didnt get any better as he gave up back-to-back blasts to Keston Hiura and Christian Yelich, with that latter one hitting roughly 75 feet up the batters eye in center field to make it 9-2. Nate Jones came out for the bottom of the 8th and got started quickly, inducing a ground out on the 1st pitch of the inning. After a few pitches to the next hitter there was another ground out.
About an hour prior to the game the Cincinnati Reds announced that they had placed second baseman Mike Moustakas on the 10-day injured list retroactive to Thursday and had recalled right-handed pitcher Tejay Antone.
The Reds have now homered in 11 straight games at Miller Park.
Sonny Gray extended his Major League record of consecutive starts without allowing more than six hits to 37 games. The last time he gave up more than six hits in a game was August 1st, 2018 when he was still pitching for the New York Yankees.
Kansas City Royals vs Cincinnati Reds
Tuesday August 11th, 6:40pm ET
TBA vs Luis Castillo (0-2, 4.76 ERA)
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Reds bullpen struggles continue in a loss to the Brewers - redlegnation.com
