Brewers trail from start to finish in 4-1 loss to Reds

WP: Anthony DeSclafani (1-0)
LP: Brett Anderson (0-1)
SV: Raisel Iglesias (2)

Box Score

HR: Eugenio Suarez (2)

The Brewers offense is still struggling, and it hurt them again as they fell behind early tonight.

It only took four batters for the Reds to get a lead tonight. Brett Anderson got the start and struggled right away. It started with a Phillip Ervin infield single. Two batters later, Joey Votto hit a ground ball to Keston Hiura, who had an opportunity for an inning-ending double play. However, Hiura couldn’t handle it and didn’t get anyone out, resulting in a fielder’s choice with runner reaching on an error. The next batter was Eugenio Suarez, who hit a three-run home run to put the Brewers in a 3-0 hole.

With the offense struggling, that was enough of a lead for the Reds. The Brewers managed just three baserunners in the first seven innings. Reds starter Anthony DeSclafani pitched six of those innings, with Amir Garrett taking a 1-2-3 seventh inning. The Reds added on in the seventh as well, turning a Kyle Farmer leadoff walk off of Corbin Burnes into a run thanks to a triple from Shogo Akiyama.

The Brewers did rally a bit in the eighth off of Reds reliever Michael Lorenzen. Ben Gamel hit a double to start the inning, and Omar Narvaez singled to put two runners on with no outs. Brock Holt hit a sacrifice fly to give the Brewers their first run, but they couldn’t manage anything else as Orlando Arcia struck out and Eric Sogard flew out to end the inning. The ninth finished quickly as the Brewers went 1-2-3 against closer Raisel Iglesias to end the game.

In total, the Brewers offense managed just five baserunners (four hits, one walk), and struck out eleven times. Seven strikeouts came from the 2-5 hitters (Hiura, Yelich, Morrison, Garcia), and three of the four hits were from the 6-8 hitters (Gamel, Narvaez, Holt).

On the pitching side, Brett Anderson allowed three runs (two earned) in the first, but that was it for runs allowed. He pitched 3.2 innings and allowed a total of four hits and two walks, with just two strikeouts. Corbin Burnes took the remaining 5.1 innings, and for the most part had a good night. He did allow a run in the seventh, but otherwise allowed just one hit and three walks, while racking up eight strikeouts.

The Brewers will try to salvage a win in this series, sending Brandon Woodruff to face Sonny Gray. First pitch is at 1:10 pm.