Reds offense buries Brewers 9-7 (again!) despite two Yelich homers

WP: Anthony DeSclafani (7-4); LP: Junior Guerra (6-9); Save: Raisel Iglesias (24); Homeruns: Mil - Christian Yelich 2 (24,25); Cin - Jose Peraza (9)

How many times can the Brewers lose to the Reds 9-7? Study this Box Score for clues!

The Cincinnati Reds (57-75) used six early runs off of Junior Guerra in the first two innings to build a lead that they never relinquished despite seven late runs from the Milwaukee Brewers (73-60). The Brewers’ rally was keyed by two Christian Yelich homers and his five RBI, but Cincy tacked on three against the Milwaukee pen for a 9-7 win.

Guerra was hit hard, early, and often. There was a little bit of bad luck, but it basically came when most of the damage had been done. The Reds put up four in the first inning, starting with four straight hits including a two run homer from Jose Peraza and a double from Eugenio Suarez. After a strikeout the Reds added a walk and RBI single before two k’s to the bottom two in the order ended the inning; 4-0 Reds.

Billy Hamilton led off his second consecutive inning with his second consecutive single, but earned a caught stealing when he pulled up on his way to second and was put out in a rundown. Two more singles and a walk loaded the bags and ended Juni G’s evening.

Jordan Lyles inherited some heavily loaded bases, and walked in one on his first batter faced. He induced a groundball to third that Mike Moustakas double clutched on, costing the Crew a double play, scoring the Redlegs’ sixth run. Suarez never reached third, and thought that there were now three outs. It appeared that the umpires called time out and Suarez jogged off the field. Normally he should have been called out, but since time had been called he was allowed to come back on the field and take up third base. It didn’t cost the Brewers any runs, but ya know...it’s the principle of the thing.

Milwaukee put together a promising top of the fourth, but only plated one run. With one down, Jesus Aguilar singled on a liner to center and Travis Shaw came back from a 1-2 count to draw a walk. Ryan Braun blooped a single down the rightfield line but Scott Schebler hustled and got the ball back in, keeping Aguilar at third. Moustakas struck out with all bases occupied, but Erik Kratz grounded a single up the middle, scoring Zeus but not Shaw - Hamilton’s throw to the plate nipped the Mayer when Tucker Barnhart took the throw on the first base side of the plate and lunged across the plate to get Travis’ hand before it got to the plate. Yelich led off the sixth with a blast to center for his first homer that traveled 432’, cutting the lead to 6-2. That was Yeli’s sixth homer in his last nine games. Four runs down? That might be doable.

Au contraire, mon frere. Dan Jennings, in his second inning of work, gave up a single and a walk but struck out two, leaving runners at first and second with two down. What do the Brewers do in those situations? They double switch - this time replacing Jennings with a worse pitcher...Matt Albers. Albers was brought in for multiple innings? What?

So he gave up an RBI single and an intentional walk before getting the third out. 7-2 Reds.

Hernan Perez (the second piece in the double switch) doubled in Moustakas from first with two down in the top of the seventh, meaning the end of the line for DeScafani. He left with a runner on second and a 7-3 lead, and the top of the order coming up. Old buddy Jared Hughes came in to face Lorenzo Cain and walked him.

That was a mistake. Yeli took an inside sinker that didn’t sink and drove it out down the rightfield line for his second dinger of the game, bring the Crew back within one at 7-6.

So the Crew was back within one, and on the mound to start the bottom of the seventh was...Matt Albers. Rock said there wasn’t time to get anybody up...if somebody was up right away after the Yelich homer, he could have been brought in after Albers warmed up. But Joakim Soria didn’t even start warming up until Albers was well into facing his first batter, Mason Williams...who, of course, singled. Billy Hamilton did the Brewers another favor, popping up a bunt to Kratz, but Peraza collected his fourth hit of the game, grounding a single up the middle. So instead of getting a clean start to an inning, Soria came in with runners at first and second and one out.

Scooter Gennett worked a 3-2 count and then tripled in two with a liner down the rightfield line. Sigh. Soria struck out the next two, but the damage was done...9-6 Reds.

The Brewers made it interesting against Cincy closer Raisel Iglesias in the ninth. With one down Perez singled to center and Lorenzo Cain doubled down the leftfield line with Hernan stopping at third. That brought up Yelich, and he did what he did two other times in tonight’s game...unfortunately, it was a groundout to second and not a homer. Perez scored, Cain took third. With two down, that gave Aguilar a chance to tie, but he fanned on a 3-2 slider. Ballgame, 9-7.

The Cubs and Cards games weren’t complete at this writing, and the Brewers try again tomorrow night against the Reds, sending out Freddy Peralta (6-4, 4.02) to face almost-Brewer Matt Harvey (6-7, 4.77).

Game Notes:

• That was Yelich’s first multi homerun game, and it’s now 7 homers in 9 games.
• Albers’ ERA now sits at 7.24
• Guerra’s line: 1.1 IP, 8 hits, 6 runs, all earned, 2 walks, and 3 k’s. His season ERA has now climbed over four; it was under three not all that long ago. Another sigh.
• The top four hitters in the Reds line-up reached base fourteen times in eight innings, scoring eight of the nine runs. That included eight singles, a double, a triple, and a homer.
• The Reds had fourteen hits and eight walks. Brewer pitching was very bad.
• Yelich ended the evening with five RBI, taking him to 72 on the season.