Brewers blown out by Reds 10-4

WP: Luis Castillo (1-2)
LP: Brent Suter (1-2)

HR: None

Box Score

Coming home to face the worst team in baseball wasn’t enough to turn around some of the Brewers recent fortunes.

It wasn’t a great start for Brent Suter today. He pitched five innings, allowing three runs on six hits with four strikeouts and no walks. Most of the damage came in the second inning, when the Reds recorded three singles, a sac bunt, and a double against Suter, bringing in all three runs that he had allowed. Other than that, Suter allowed only two other hits in the game. He was at 69 pitches at the end of the fifth, and had his spot not come up in the batting order with runners on second and third, you would have to wonder if he would have gone back out there had his spot not come up with runners at second and third.

After Suter came out of the game, Oliver Drake came in to try to keep the Reds off the board. It didn’t work out for him. He faced ten Reds in the inning, allowing four doubles, two singles, and an intentional walk. That boosted the Reds lead to 9-0 and basically put the game out of reach for the Brewers. After the sixth, the Brewers pitchers had allowed nine runs on twelve hits and a walk. The Brewers offense had recorded just two walks and two singles, along with eight strikeouts.

If there was one bright spot in the game, it came in the seventh inning. The Brewers put together a rally, led by two of their prospects. Jesus Aguilar and Orlando Arcia hit singles to start the inning and put runners at first and second. Jacob Nottingham then got his first MLB plate appearance after coming in at the top of the inning as a defensive replacement. He drew a walk to load the bases. With the Brewers bench thin, Jorge Lopez, who came in at the top of the inning as well, batted for himself. He hit a double to center field to score two and break the shutout, chasing Luis Castillo from the game after 6 ²⁄₃ innings.

The Brewers offense didn’t stop there, as Nottingham scored on a wild pitch from Cody Reed, and Jonathan Villar had an RBI single to close the gap to 9-4. Lorenzo Cain singled, but Domingo Santana struck out to end the Brewers threat.

Jorge Lopez pitched three innings in relief to finish out the game, allowing a run on two hits and three walks. The run he allowed in the eighth accounted for the Reds 10th run, and the Brewers didn’t mount another threat, losing to the Reds 10-4.

On offense, only Jacob Nottingham and Orlando Arcia reached base twice. Arcia went 2-for-4 in the game, and Nottingham drew two walks in his first two plate appearances. The only extra-base hit in the game was from Lopez’s RBI double in the seventh inning. Also, Ryan Braun did make a pinch-hit appearance in the ninth inning, which is a positive sign as he has been dealing with back tightness.

The series continues tomorrow against the Reds, as Junior Guerra will make his second start following a good first start last week. He will face off against Sal Romano of the Reds. First pitch is at 6:40 pm.

EDIT: Following the game, Tom Haudricourt reported that Eric Thames should avoid the DL after getting a good medical report. This is good news for a Brewers bench that is thin as they are dealing with several day-to-day injuries.