Cincinnati Reds' struggles vs. NL Central continued in series loss to Milwaukee Brewers

Yahoo

2 days ago

The Milwaukee Brewers' run of dominance over the Cincinnati Reds continued for another series.
The Brewers stretched their series winning streak over the Reds to 12 in a row when they took Wednesday's matinee at Great American Ball Park, 9-1. After taking Monday's series opener, the Brewers bounced back from Tuesday's loss in which the Reds enjoyed a win that featured a home-run robbery by outfielder T.J. Friedl that rivaled a walk-off win.
Advertisement
The Reds had just four hits in the game and starting pitcher Andrew Abbott was credited with his first loss of 2025 (5-1). He went six innings and allowed five runs on seven hits with seven strikeouts.
Shortstop Elly De La Cruz dodges a wild pitch in the first inning against the Milwaukee Brewers Wednesday, June 4. De La Cruz was to return home to the Dominican after the game following the death of his sister and will miss the three-game series with the Arizona Diamondbacks beginning Friday, June 6.
Brewers opener D.L. Hall held back the Reds for the first three innings. Then, Quinn Priester (3-2) went five innings and allowed two of the Reds' four hits, plus Cincinnati's only run. Nick Mears recorded the final three outs out of Milwaukee's bullpen.
The series victory was Milwaukee's 13th out of 14 versus Cincinnati, as well as its 16th out of 18 against the Reds dating back to 2021.
By game's end, the Reds (30-33) found themselves 9.5 games back of the National League Central-leading Chicago Cubs.
Advertisement
The series loss to the Brewers also underscored the Reds' struggles against NL Central opposition. In addition to losing two recent series to Chicago, Cincinnati has won just one series out of the seven it's played against the Brewers, Cubs, St. Louis Cardinals and Pittsburgh Pirates. The lone series win was a sweep of the Pirates at Great American Ball Park (April 11-13).
Reds starter Andrew Abbott suffered his first loss of the season after allowing five runs in six innings of the 9-1 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers Wednesday, June 4.
All told, Cincinnati is 10-13 against the NL Central. Their only winning record within the division is against the last-place Pirates (4-2).
If the NL Central is the Reds' most viable path to contention, its performances against divisional rivals aren't helping their cause.
Advertisement
After playing 12 of the last 15 games against NL Central foes, the Reds will turn away from head-to-head divisional play and welcome the NL West's Arizona Diamondbacks to Great American Ball Park for three games.
Cincinnati's Nick Lodolo (4-4, 3.10 ERA), Nick Martinez (3-6, 3.89 ERA) and Brady Singer (6-4, 4.66 ERA) are the scheduled starters for the Reds on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, respectively. The Diamondbacks' starters weren't confirmed as of Wednesday afternoon.
Arizona entered its Wednesday game against the Atlanta Braves with a 29-31 mark. It is fourth in the West, trailing the Los Angeles Dodgers by 7.5 games.
The Brewers opened the scoring on Wednesday. Abbott cruised through the first eight batters he faced, retiring them in order, but then allowed a two-out double to Brice Turang in the third inning. The next batter, Andruw Monasterio, singled to drive in Turang.
Advertisement
The Reds fired back in the bottom of the inning, loading the bases with one out, but they failed to score. Santiago Espinal lined out to second base and Elly De La Cruz was thrown out on a soft grounder to third base.
Milwaukee tacked on in the fifth inning via Jackson Chourio's two-out, two-run homer to right field. The homer was Chourio's 10th of 2025.
Matt McLain got the Reds on the scoreboard in the bottom of the inning. He grounded out, but Jose Trevino scored on the play.
Milwaukee came back again via the long ball, though. Daz Cameron hit his first home run of the year following a Rhys Hoskins walk to put the Brewers up, 5-1.
Advertisement
Pitcher Wade Miley came on for the top of the eighth inning to make his 2025 debut appearance. Miley opted out of his Reds contract over the weekend to test free-agency, but quickly returned as Cincinnati announced Wednesday morning he'd signed a one-year major-league deal with the team.
Miley wanted to explore the marketplace for starting pitching across the league, but the Reds developed an unexpected need for a starter when Hunter Greene re-injured his right groin and on Wednesday was placed on the 15-day injured list.
A Wednesday MRI performed on Greene didn't reveal new information about the injury, according to the Reds.
The first three batters against Miley reached to load the bases, and they added one insurance run against him. Two force-outs at home plate, plus a diving catch in left field by Will Benson, allowed Cincinnati to avoid further damage in the inning.
Advertisement
With Miley still on the mound in the ninth inning, the floodgates opened once and for all on Isaac Collins' three-run home run.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Reds' struggles vs. NL Central continued in series loss to Milwaukee