Tejay Antone exits with injury again, Reds bullpen implodes in 7-4 loss to Brewers

A 4-1 lead held by the Cincinnati Reds quickly turned into a dismal, brutal 7-4 loss for them in their series opener against the Milwaukee Brewers on Tuesday evening. This time, it was Michael Lorenzen who was charged with the damage, admittedly his first blowup since he finally returned to the bullpen after missing the first 3+ months of the season due to injury.

The loss sunk the Reds to 8.5 games back of Milwaukee in the NL Central, the kind of deficit that’s just damn near impossible to overcome with so few games remaining, though that obviously won’t keep the hard-charging Reds from regrouping and doing everything they can to enter the playoffs via the Wild Card route.

(Speaking of which, the San Diego Padres are trailing the Los Angeles Dodgers 1-0 at the time of this being written.)

All of that is important, to be sure, but pales in comparison to the biggest news the Reds faced this evening. That, unfortunately, was what appeared to be a potentially awful arm injury suffered by Tejay Antone just 5 pitches into his return to the club after being sidelined for nearly a full pair of months with forearm issues. He was clearly in serious pain after firing a breaking ball in the Bottom of the 8th, and exited immediately. Considering just how good he is when right, they’d essentially been counting on him to help rectify the bullpen down the stretch, and now they may well be without him for an agonizing amount of time.

Get well soon, Tejay. Damn.

Reds lost, 7-4.

Tony Graphanino

The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game

Tyler Mahle handed over a lead to the bullpen and had them blow it for the 7th time tonight, which according to the TV broadcast crew (hi, Joel!) is the most of any pitcher in baseball.

He yielded a run in a laborious Bottom of the 1st, but eventually settled down to toss a damn fine game. His final line: 5.2 IP, 5 H, ER, BB, 8 K on 104 pitches, lowering his season ERA down to a 3.69 ERA.

Other Notes

• Mike Moustakas had a pair of hits in what’s hopefully the second game of his uptick back to being a solid regular, while Tyler Naquin picked up a walk and a hit to extend his league-best hitting streak. Jonathan India walked twice, and is simply a wonderful young baseball player.
• Shogo Akiyama continues to look outmatched, and that pains me to say.
• These two will be back at it again tomorrow with another stellar pitching matchup. Luis Castillo will go for the Cincinnati Reds, while Brandon Woodruff gets the start for Milwaukee. First pitch is again set for 8:10 PM ET.
• Tunes.