The good news is that the offense that had been missing in the last week finally showed up for the Reds. The bad news was that the pitching for Cincinnati continued to give up runs by the baker’s dozen in what turned out to be the 5th loss in a row as the Milwaukee Brewers came out with a 13-9 victory on Saturday night.

Early on it felt a lot like the previous few games as Milwaukee crushed Brady Singer in the bottom of the 1st inning. Brice Turang hit a 2-run home run to put the Brewers in front. Garrett Mitchell would add a 2-run home run of his own about five minutes later to push the lead to 4-0.

Cincinnati would get one of those runs back in the top of the 2nd inning when Eugenio Suarez hit a solo home run. An inning later they would get another one when Dane Myers picked up a 2-out single and then scored on a double by Elly De La Cruz.

Milwaukee would counter that in the bottom of the 3rd when Cooper Pratt drove in a run to make it 5-2. The Reds, who had scored just one run in the previous two games, seemed to have figured out how to find hits once again. In the top of the 4th they would tie the game up when JJ Bleday’s double drove in a run and it was followed up by a 2-run home run from Juan Brito that tied the game up.

Brady Singer retired the first two Brewers hitters in the 4th but then the wheels fell off. Singer walked Jake Bauers then gave up a single to Christian Yelich after an 8-pitch at-bat. The first pitch to William Contreras was crushed for a go-ahead 3-run homer.

After matching a career worst eight earned runs in a start, Brady Singer didn’t return for the 5th inning. Cincinnati turned to the bullpen and brought in Graham Ashcraft. The change made no difference at all. Ashcraft would give up a single before picking up a strikeout. Then four more singles followed, with two of them bringing in runs. After falling behind 3-0 to William Contreras he intentionally walked him to load the bases. Garrett Mitchell then doubled in two more runs to make it 13-5 and five runs against Ashcraft. That ended his day and Pierce Johnson replaced him on the mound.

The score stayed there until the top of the 8th inning when the Reds put together a rally. Sal Stewart led off with a single and took third on a double by Tyler Stephenson. A passed ball brought Stewart in. Eugenio Suarez brought in another run on an RBI single. JJ Bleday came through with a single of his own and ended the day for reliever Kyle Harrison. Aaron Ashby entered the game and then gave up an RBI hit to Juan Brito that cut the lead to 13-8. Hector Rodriguez then hit a chopper on the infield grass that was scored as a base hit to load the bases after Cooper Pratt was unable to field it cleanly. Another run would score on a double play hit into by Ke’Bryan Hayes.

The Reds would begin the 9th inning still down by four runs. Cincinnati would make it interesting as they got two men on base and were a pitch away from a walk to load the bases, but back-to-back strikes to JJ Bleday turned that count around and into a strikeout that ended the game.

Key Moment of the Game

The Brewers 5-run 5th inning. The game was within striking distance when the inning began but was out of reach by the time that it ended.

Notes Worth Noting

Four Reds hitters had multiple hits in the game – Elly De La Cruz, Eugenio Suarez, JJ Bleday, and Juan Brito.

The 4-hit day for Brito has his line at .368/.409/.737 in his first seven games played with the big league club. The two doubles by De La Cruz give him nine extra-base hits in his last seven games.

Elly De La Cruz hit a double in the 5th inning that had an exit velocity of 117.4 MPH. That is the hardest hit ball this season by a Red. De La Cruz has 14 of the 15 hardest hit baseballs of the year for the club. Hector Rodriguez hit a home run at 115.2 MPH to take claim for the #8 spot on the list.

The Reds team ERA sits at 4.90 on the season. The season is not over, but that would be the worst by the team since the 2017 season when it was 5.17 and the two pitchers who led the team in starts were Tim Adleman and Scott Feldman. Those two were also the only pitchers on the staff to top 92.0 innings on the season.

Up Next for the Cincinnati Reds

Cincinnati Reds vs Milwaukee Brewers

Sunday September 13th, 2:10pm ET

Chase Burns (15-3, 2.73 ERA) vs TBA