Brewers 3, Reds 2

W: Carlos Villanueva (1-0)
L: Bronson Arroyo (10-6)
S: John Axford (15)

MVP: Jim Edmonds (.313)
LVP: Casey McGehee (-.166)

Win Expectancy Graph

Who needs hits?  The Brewers managed only three hits off Bronson Arroyo but that was enough to win.  Randy Wolf had the Brewers first hit, a single past Scott Rolen in the third inning.  Rickie Weeks followed with a home run off the Miller Lite sign above the batters' eye.  Before the home run, Arroyo had thrown 26 pitches, all but two strikes.  He continued to pitch efficiently, needing only 88 pitches to get through eight innings.  Eight innings was all he was afforded, though, as Jim Edmonds limped off the bench to hit the go-ahead home run in the bottom of the eighth inning.

Meanwhile, Randy Wolf walked out to the edge of another disaster start but pulled back at the last moment, escaping a second-inning jam with only two runs allowed.  He settled down, allowing only two hits after the second and retiring 12 of the final 13 batters he faced.  Carlos Villanueva pitched a scoreless eighth and Edmonds' home run gave him his first decision of the season.  John Axford made it dicey in the ninth, but a baserunning gaffe by Laynce Nix and a dramatic strikeout of pinch hitter Chris Heisey gave him save number fifteen.

The Brewers have now won 11 of 15 and find themselves within five games of .500 for the first time since May 14.  Tonight's game took 2 hours and 10 minutes and was the fastest Brewers game this season.