Offense comes up short again as Brewers lose series finale, 2-1, and get swept by Cincinnati

Box Score

Just when it seemed like the offense for the Milwaukee Brewers had turned a corner, a big old reality check came in the form of the Cincinnati Reds. The Brewers averaged nearly 5.5 runs scored during their first 11 contests of June, going 9-2 during that stretch. But then the Queen City Nine came to town and swept the Brewers in a three-game series at AmFam Field during which the home team scored only a total of four runs, including a 2-1 loss on Wednesday afternoon.

Milwaukee got out to an early lead in this one, getting on the board first in the third inning. Dan Vogelbach led off with a double against Tyler Mahle, then he came around to score when Christian Yelich singled. That gave the Crew a 1-0 lead.

Freddy Peralta started for the Brewers, and he breezed through the first three innings while retiring the Reds’ lineup in order during his first time through. Peralta got nicked up a bit in the fourth, though. With two outs, Nick Castellanos singled for Cincinnati’s first hit of the game. Tyler Naquin followed with a double to left, scoring Castellanos and tying the game up at 1.

After that, Peralta went on another long stretch of setting down batters. He retired the next nine Reds’ hitters he faced into the bottom of the seventh inning. But once again, he ran into some trouble with two outs. Joey Votto singled off a 91 MPH fastball, then the next batter, Tucker Barnhart, roped a double to left field. Votto came around to score, giving Cincinnati a 2-1 lead. Peralta would finish out the frame, ending his day with a line of 7 IP, 5 hits, 2 earned runs, zero walks, and six strikeouts. Trevor Richards tossed the final two innings for Milwaukee without allowing a run.

Peralta wound up taking an underserved loss because the offense failed to muster anything after pushing their lone run across. From the third through the eighth innings, 17 Milwaukee hitters were retired in a row, with the streak finally broken up by an Avisail Garcia single with two outs in the eighth. Willy Adames made things interesting in the ninth with a one-out, ground rule double, but Lucas Sims buckled down and struck out Daniel Robertson and Jackie Bradley, Jr. to finish off the victory.

Now 38-30, the Menomonee Valley Nine heads out on the road to take on the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field beginning tomorrow night. Game one of that series will feature Brandon Woodruff taking on German Marquez.