A pair of home runs guides Brewers to 5-1 win over Reds

After a long week for Brewers fans, they finally got a chance to see their favorite team play at home. A little home cooking might be the remedy for the slumping Brew Crew, as the combination of hot bats and good pitching aided the Brewers to a 5-1 win over the Cincinnati Reds, ending their four-game win streak.

Just like the last three games against the Pirates, it was the Brewers who scored first. Christian Yelich led off the game with a walk. Two batters later, Rowdy Tellez hit a moonshot to right field to give the Brewers an early 2-0 lead. The 432-foot home run is the 22nd of the year for Tellez, setting a new career-high for the lefty.

The offense added some more insurance runs in the second. Hunter Renfroe and Luis Urias got on to start the inning. After a Victor Caratini fly out to center that moved Renfroe to third, Tyrone Taylor hit a 407-foot home run to left, extending the lead to 5-0. In the third, Rowdy Tellez showed off his range as an athlete. With a home run already under his belt, Tellez got on with a walk and then proceeded to steal second two batters later. The stolen base from Tellez would be the second of his career.

That 5-0 cushion would be more than enough for Eric Lauer, who had a great outing. He had a long first inning, giving up two hits and a walk on 27 pitches. He was efficient in the innings to follow, not allowing another hit until the fifth and giving up just two walks in that stretch. He did find some trouble in that fifth inning. After the inning started with a ground out from Michael Papierksi, Jonathan India and Nick Senzel both got on with singles. Kyler Farmer made it three singles in a row and an RBI, as a base hit to left made it a 5-1 game. The threat was eliminated the next at-bat, as Joey Votto hit into an inning-ending double play.

Even with the 27-pitch first, Lauer was still able to make it through seven strong innings. Lauer allowed just six hits, one run and three walks while striking out four on 100 pitches. His ability to go far was valuable for the Brewers coming off a series that saw a heavy workload from the bullpen. Trevor Gott got the call out of the bullpen and made quick work of the Reds in the eighth. After throwing just 11 pitches in the eighth, Gott went back out to the ninth. He lost some command in that ninth inning, walking two of the first three batters he faced. With two on and no outs, Devin Williams got the call and was able to get the job done. Williams got both Reynolds and India to strike out swinging, giving the Brewers the win and snapping their four-game losing streak.

These two will be back at it again tomorrow. The first pitch is at 6:15 and Aaron Ashby will get the start for the Brewers against Nick Lodolo.