The Reds finally got some life from the offense in Milwaukee, but it still wasn’t enough to survive another rough night on the mound.
Cincinnati dropped a 13-9 decision to the Brewers on Saturday, a game that turned early because Brady Singer never found his rhythm and Graham Ashcraft couldn’t stop the bleeding after him. The bullpen, aside from Ashcraft, didn’t allow a baserunner, but the damage had already piled up too high for the Reds to dig all the way out.
It was another ugly chapter in a brutal week. The Reds were swept in Los Angeles, then got thumped 20-0 on Friday in Milwaukee, their worst shutout loss in franchise history.
Before Saturday’s game, Matt McLain was originally listed to start at second base, but he was scratched. Ke'Bryan Hayes replaced him, and Juan Brito moved from third base to second defensively.
Singer’s outing was the kind that has become far too familiar lately. In four innings, he gave up eight runs on eight hits, including three home runs, while walking five.
He failed to get a first-pitch strike to nine of the 25 batters he faced, and only 56 of his 95 pitches were strikes. It was also his 14th loss of the season, a career high.
He had won 14 games with a 4.03 ERA in his first season with the Reds, but this year has gone in the opposite direction.
The Brewers jumped on him immediately, scoring four runs in the first. Cincinnati answered in the second when Eugenio Suarez broke the team’s 15-inning scoreless stretch by launching his 23rd homer of the season off Shane Drohan.
The Reds kept swinging in the fourth and made it a game for a moment. After Suarez walked to open the inning, JJ Bleday snapped an 0-for-21 skid with an RBI double that brought Suarez home from first. Juan Brito followed with a two-run homer, his second home run of the season and of his career, to tie the game at five.
But Milwaukee kept answering. By the time the Reds mounted another push, the Brewers had already done enough damage to stay comfortably in front.
Cincinnati’s best rally came in the eighth, when six straight hitters reached with hits off Kyle Harrison and Aaron Ashby. The Reds scored four runs in the inning, but never quite turned it into the kind of comeback that would flip the game.
Elly De La Cruz kept piling up strong at-bats. He finished with two more hits, giving him seven multi-hit games in September and extending his on-base streak to 18 straight games. It’s the best stretch of his career so far.
The Brewers have now outscored the Reds 82-53 this season and have taken every series but one between the clubs. Cincinnati will try to avoid the sweep, and avoid an 0-6 week, on Sunday in the finale - the final meeting with Milwaukee this season.
Chase Burns is scheduled to start for the Reds, with Brandon Williamson set to piggyback out of the bullpen. Burns was dominant in his last outing in Los Angeles, throwing three hitless innings with one walk and five strikeouts. Milwaukee has not announced a starter.
Cincinnati is now 69-79, 10 games under .500, and only days away from being eliminated from playoff contention. After a promising start, a bullpen collapse, shaky defense and inconsistent starting pitching outside of Chase Burns have defined how this season has unraveled.
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The bigger issue is the scale of the damage, which now feels impossible to ignore in the context of a season that still has plenty of baseball left. Milwaukee put up a franchise-record 33 runs across two games against the Reds, a jarring number even by the standards of a bad week. Cincinnati has to find a way to stop the bleeding soon, because the rotation and bullpen are no longer just struggling - they are making the wrong kind of history. [Read more 🡒]
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The Reds got enough help to pull it out 4-3, with Eugenio Suarez and Elly De La Cruz supplying key offense and Brandon Williamson doing his part in relief before the Brewers pushed across a tying run in the seventh. Cincinnati still escaped with the win, but the way the game unfolded left the club with another reminder that the middle innings and the late-inning workload remain worth watching closely. [Read more 🡒]