It was a difficult start to the week for Ohio’s Major League Baseball teams as both the Cincinnati Reds and Cleveland Guardians dropped the first two games of their respective series.
The Reds, coming off a series win over Pittsburgh, couldn’t hold an early lead in Monday’s opener against Milwaukee.
Sal Stewart drove in the game’s first run before Elly De La Cruz launched a two-run home run to put Cincinnati ahead 3-0. Nick Lodolo carried a one-hitter into the sixth inning before the Brewers rallied. Jake Bauers delivered a pinch-hit RBI single, a wild pitch cut the deficit to one, Brice Turang tied the game with a solo home run in the seventh and Joey Ortiz put Milwaukee ahead for good with a two-out, two-run homer in the eighth. Aaron Ashby earned his major league-leading 11th win while Trevor Megill picked up the save in the 5-3 victory.
The Brewers secured the series Tuesday with a 7-2 win.
Sal Stewart opened the scoring with a first-inning solo home run, but Milwaukee answered with a run in the second before breaking the game open with four runs in the fourth inning. Jake Bauers finished 3 for 4 with a home run, Jackson Chourio also went deep and Brandon Sproat struck out seven over 5.1 innings as the Brewers collected 14 hits.
The Guardians also fell behind in their series after dropping the first two games to Texas.
The Rangers claimed Monday’s opener 6-3 despite Cleveland trimming the deficit to one late in the game. Texas rookie Cameron Cauley tripled and scored twice in his major league debut before the Rangers added two insurance runs in the ninth inning.
Tuesday’s 4-2 loss was decided by a pair of unusual swings in momentum.
Kyle Manzardo gave Cleveland an early lead with a two-run home run in the first inning, but Jacob deGrom responded by retiring 18 of his final 19 batters while striking out nine over seven innings. Joc Pederson tied the game with a two-run homer before Texas took the lead in the seventh when Guardians rookie Cooper Ingle caught a fly ball, believed it was the third out and threw the ball into the stands, allowing Ezequiel Duran to score from second base on the dead-ball error. Josh Jung added a solo home run in the eighth to help seal the Rangers’ series-clinching victory.
{span id=”docs-internal-guid-a60b25c9-7fff-1856-50f1-c71bea755e14”}{span}The Guardians will head home to play the A.L. Central leading Chicago White Sox, the Reds will conclude their series with Milwaukee on Thursday.