Cincinnati Reds fall to 1-5 on homestand with 4-3 loss to Milwaukee Brewers

The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game

Jesse Winker homered for the fourth time in the last pair of games, Scott Heineman bashed his first dinger as a member of the Cincinnati Reds, and both things were nice and shiny.

Unfortunately, the Reds couldn’t hold off a patchwork Milwaukee Brewers club on the day, and lost a game they pretty well should have had won on a couple of occasions.

Honorable Mentions are due to: Nick Castellanos and Tyler Stephenson, who each doubled and each had a pair of hits, respectively, with Nick scoring a run and Tyler doing the ribbie work.

Key Plays

• Luis Urias lost his job as the Milwaukee SS upon the acquisition of Willy Adames, but he got the start at 2B today. Perhaps he had a bit of extra pizazz in his approach as a result, and he socked a Sonny meatball for a solo shot in the Top of the 3rd that gave the Brewers a 1-0 lead.
• That lead was short-lived, however, as solo dingers from both Heineman and Winker came off Brett Anderson in the Bottom of the 3rd to flip the scoreboard 2-1 in the Reds favor.
• A crossup between Sonny Gray and Tyler Stephenson resulted in a passed ball in the Top of the 6th, one that unfortunately ended up hitting home plate umpire Ron Kulpa square in the facemask. He went down for several minutes before being helped off the field, the end result being a change in home plate umpires and roughly 12 minute delay. Adames then walked to load the bags before Jackie Bradley smacked a sharp liner at Alex Blandino at 1B that kicked off his glove and into foul territory, allowing a pair of Brewers to score. It was eventually scored a ‘single,’ though after watching it a pair of times I have my druthers. Reds trailed, 3-2.
• Brent Suter took over for the Brewers in the Bottom of the 6th, and Castellanos promptly greeted him with a double. That put him in position to score on the single up the gut by Tyler Stephenson, and the game was again tied at 3-3.
• That tie lasted a few minutes before Daniel Robertson socked a homer immediately after entering the game on a double-switch, taking Heath Hembree deep over the CF wall just over the outstretched glove of Heineman. Robertson, for the record last homered in 2019 as a member of the Rays and has been with two organizations since then, because of course. Reds trailed, 4-3, and that’s unfortunately how it wrapped.

Tony Graphanino

Other Notes

• Sonny Gray was either a good defensive play or a proper scoring decision away from allowing just a lone ER through 6 IP on the day. Regardless, despite being dinged for 3 ER in that time, he looked pretty Sonny-like in his outing. His final line: 6 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 4 BB, 8 K on 96 pitches.
• Eugenio Suarez went 0 for 4, and is now hitting just .151/.231/.349 on the season. I don’t know if a Joey Votto-esque 3-day benching will fix him, but it’s long overdue that we all find out, regardless of the other injuries on the roster.
• The Reds are now 1-5 on this homestand. Gross.
• Tomorrow’s series finale between these two clubs will feature a stellar pitching matchup, at least in terms of arm talent. Luis Castillo has struggled overall this year, but he’ll get the bump tomorrow for the Reds off an impressive last outing, while Freddy Peralta will toe the rubber for the Brewers in the midst of what so far has been a breakout campaign. First pitch is set for 1:10 PM ET.
• Tunes.