Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game

Yovani Gallardo.  Gallardo is a good pitcher and our offense is very bad.  Put that together and you get 9 strikeouts in 5.1 innings (including 8 in the first three), 1 ER, and the win.

Key Plays

• Micah Owings looked very hittable from the beginning.  In the first, J.J. Hardy walked, then singles by Ryan Braun, Mike Cameron, and Mat Gamel scored two runs.
• The Reds loaded the bases in the second inning with one out, but Ryan Hanigan and Owings struck out, and no runs were scored.
• Walks continued to haunt Owings, as he gave light-hitting Jason Kendall a free pass in the bottom of the second.  Gallardo bunted him over, Craig Counsell moved him to third on a single, and J.J. Hardy drove him in with a sac fly.  Smawbaw!
• The Reds hinted at making a game of it in the third.  Jerry Hairston, Jr. got to second on an error and scored on a Jay Bruce single.  Brandon Phillips also singled to have two men on with one out.  Laynce Nix and Ramon Hernandez both took called third strikes, and that was that.
• The Brewers then put the game safely out of reach, like taking Danny Ray Herrera's glove and putting it way up high on the kitchen table, with Mike Cameron's two-run homer, our Frisch's Big Boy Big Play of the Game.
• Brandon Phillips homered in the fifth, prompting him to swing and fall down for the rest of the game.
• The Reds put runners on the corners with one out in the sixth.  Chris Dickerson grounded into a force out, and although the Brewers were conceding a run, Hanigan did not try to score from third, and Mark Berry just kind of stood there.  Hairston then struck out, and that was that.

via FanGraphs

Other Notes

• Following their sweep of the Diamondbacks on May 13, the Reds had the best road record in baseball (13-5).  They have lost every road game since then.
• Nick Masset is flirting with a sub-1.00 ERA.  It currently sits at 1.06.  That's only the third best ERA in the bullpen, and five relievers have ERAs under 2.00.
• This is the first time the Reds have been swept in Milwaukee since July 3-5, 2006.  (And if we had won those three games, we would have won the division that year.)
• Jerry Hairston, Jr. drew a walk from Trevor Hoffman.  It was Hoffman's first walk of the season.
• The Reds did not score on Milwaukee's bullpen once during this series.
• Those who selected 5-2 on the road trip poll, including yours truly, are starting to feel pretty foolish.