What started as a Saturday night with the Brewers in front turned into a long, rain-battered slog, and Milwaukee never found the last answer in a 5-3 loss to the Reds.
The Brewers struck first in a game that began with some immediate pop. Wiliam Contreras put Milwaukee ahead 1-0 with a two-out solo home run off Andrew Abbott, but Elly De La Cruz answered in the bottom of the inning with a solo shot of his own against Dustin May to tie it at 1-1.
Milwaukee pushed back in the third. David Hamilton opened the inning with a single, then moved all the way to third after Abbott’s pickoff attempt got away and sailed into left field. Luis Lara finished the job with a groundout, bringing Hamilton home for a 2-1 Brewers lead.
May had that edge until the fourth, when the weather took over. He had already struck out two of the first three batters in the inning before Eugenio Suárez worked a long at-bat and singled to put runners at the corners. Then the rain got heavier, and the game went into a delay that stretched 2 hours and 22 minutes.
By the time play resumed, both starters were finished. José Trevino greeted DL Hall with a single to right that tied the game at 2-2, with that run charged to May. Hall then struck out Carlos Jorge to close the inning.
May’s final line ended at 3 2/3 innings, two runs allowed on five hits with five strikeouts. He threw only 56 pitches before the delay shut down any chance at a longer outing.
From there, the bullpens took over, and the game kept swinging back and forth.
The Reds went back on top in the sixth when Tyler Stephenson led off JoJo Romero with a home run to left, making it 3-2. Milwaukee answered in the seventh against Tony Santillan.
Cooper Pratt, Gary Sánchez, and Hamilton strung together three straight singles to load the bases, and Jackson Chourio tied it with a sacrifice fly to center. Lara then walked to reload the bases, but Contreras struck out to end the threat.
Cincinnati answered immediately again. Aaron Ashby came in for the seventh and gave up a leadoff homer to Matt McLain, who drove a sinker to right for a 4-3 Reds lead. The Reds added more pressure later in the inning with a Hector Rodriguez single that briefly became a double on the bases before a review overturned it, and Ashby ultimately escaped further damage.
Milwaukee’s best late chance came in the ninth against Emilio Pagán. Pat Murphy pinch-hit Christian Yelich for Pratt, but Yelich struck out.
Sánchez then doubled to put the tying run in scoring position, and Jake Bauers batted for Hamilton and drew a walk. Chourio followed with a single to left to load the bases, giving the Brewers a real opening.
Lara popped out, and Contreras came up with one last chance, but his deep drive to center stayed in the park and ended the game on a routine fly.
The Reds added a key insurance run in the eighth against Grant Anderson after Suárez doubled and Trevino followed with a play that got messy behind the plate. Anderson spiked a ball in the dirt, it kicked away from Sánchez, and Suárez scored from second on the sequence to make it 5-3.
Sánchez and Hamilton each finished with two hits for Milwaukee. Chourio, Lara, and Contreras drove in the Brewers’ three runs. The club scattered eight hits and four walks, while Cincinnati finished with 12 hits and a walk.
The delay made for a five-hour, seven-minute game that ended just before 11 p.m. Central. The teams now have barely any turnaround time before Sunday’s rubber match, set for 11:10 a.m., with Kyle Harrison facing Brady Singer.
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