The Cincinnati Reds left Milwaukee with exactly what they needed Thursday afternoon: no sweep, and a jolt from the bottom of the order.
Jose Trevino delivered the swing that changed everything, crushing a three-run homer in the fourth inning as the Reds beat the Brewers to close out the four-game series. Cincinnati also got a strong six-inning start from Chase Burns, and the bullpen handled the rest once the lead was built.
It started with an immediate punch. Sal Stewart jumped on the eighth pitch of the game from Jacob Misiorowski, sending a 102.3 MPH fastball back out at 102.7 MPH. The solo shot traveled 402 feet and put Cincinnati in front 1-0 right away.
Burns then settled in and kept Milwaukee off the board through the first three innings. The Brewers finally broke through in the fourth after JJ Bleday reached on a bunt that was ruled an error when Jake Bauers couldn’t handle the ball cleanly at first.
Eugenio Suarez followed with a bloop single into shallow right, setting the table for Noelvi Marte’s RBI single. Then Trevino came up with two outs, got a cutter middle-in, and hammered it for a three-run homer that pushed the Reds ahead 5-0.
Milwaukee chipped away in the bottom of the fifth when Garrett Mitchell opened the inning with a home run. In the sixth, Jackson Chourio singled with one out and Brice Turang drove in another run with an RBI double, but that was as far as the Brewers would get while the game moved into the seventh with Cincinnati up 5-2.
The Reds answered right back. TJ Friedl took Grant Anderson deep for a two-out solo homer to right-center in the seventh, stretching the margin to four. Friedl added to it again in the eighth, lining a single after two earlier hits had put runners on first and second.
From there, Cincinnati’s bullpen locked it down. Sam Moll and Tejay Antone worked through the seventh and eighth without allowing a run, and Brock Burke finished it off with a 1-2-3 ninth.
The game’s biggest turning point was Trevino’s three-run blast in the fourth. Once that landed, Cincinnati never let Milwaukee fully back in.
There were some uneven numbers in the win. Batters 1-7 in the Reds lineup went 6-31, and nobody in that group had more than one hit, though three players did reach with a hit and a walk. Trevino and Friedl, hitting out of the final two spots in the order, combined to go 5-8 with two home runs.
Cincinnati also went 3-11 with runners in scoring position, while Milwaukee was 0-3.
Misiorowski entered the day having allowed just one home run since April 19, a stretch of 77.1 innings. The Reds tagged him for two.
The win was Cincinnati’s first against the Brewers this season, moving the Reds to 1-5 in the matchup and 5-20 against the National League Central.
The Reds head home next, opening a stretch of three series at Great American Ball Park against the Orioles, Phillies and Cubs before the All-Star break. Friday’s game is set for 7:10pm ET.
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Instead, the trade has quickly tilted the wrong way for Cincinnatis side of it. Lux did not give the Reds the lift they needed, and his time in the field and at the plate never really delivered the payoff the front office was chasing before he was later flipped again for Brock Burke. Meanwhile, the loss of Sirota keeps looking more painful, which is why this deal keeps coming up as a cautionary tale every time the Reds are reminded how thin the margin can be on deadline-style roster moves. [Read more 🡒]