Brewers sweep Cincinnati
Wade Miley gets a victory in his Milwaukee debut, a 3-1 win over Reds.
CINCINNATI - Get out the brooms. Responding in the best way possible to their four-game sweep at the hands of the Chicago Cubs last weekend, the Milwaukee Brewers took care of business with a sweep of their own of the Cincinnati Reds.
The three straight victories allowed the Brewers to finish what could have been a tough road trip after their struggles at Wrigley Field with a respectable 5-4 mark.
Wade Miley allowed just one run over six strong innings in his season debut, and the offense did just enough to power a 3-1 victory at Great American Ball Park on Wednesday night.
Miley (1-0), who saw his bid to make the opening-day roster foiled in his final spring-training start by a
strained left groin, limited the Reds to three hits and three walks while striking out four in his 97-pitch outing.
Cincinnati did most of its damage against him in the fourth inning, with a leadoff walk coming in to score on a Devin Mesoraco to make it 1-1. Miley followed the double with another walk, but recovered to the final eight batters he faced.
Three first-inning singles gave the Brewers the early lead, with Orlando Arcia driving in Jesús Aguilar with a single off Joey Votto’s glove. They took the lead for good in the fifth on a leadoff home run by Christian Yelich, then tacked on an insurance run in the eighth on an Alex Blandino throwing error.
Dan Jennings pitched a scoreless seventh and then Jeremy Jeffress closed it out with his second save in as many nights, this one two innings.
FIVE TAKEAWAYS
MOVING PARTS: In order to get Miley onto the 25- and 40-man rosters, the Brewers designated right-hander Oliver Drake following Tuesday’s game. Drake was 1-0 with a 6.39 ERA in 11 appearances but almost all the damage against him came in a blowup sixrun outing against the Reds on April 16.
“He had really one outing that cost him all the runs, just a rough inning,” manager Craig Counsell said. “But he had probably nine very effective outings. We’re at the point with the roster and with the bullpen that we’re kind of out of moves, so unfortunately it’s Oliver.”
THEY ALL COUNT THE SAME: Take the Brewers’ four-game sweep at the hands of the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field out of the equation, and they have now won 11 consecutive games against the Reds (five), the Miami Marlins (four) and the Kansas City Royals (two) - three rebuilding teams who are struggling this season.
“People say they’re rebuilding, but at the end of the day you’ve got to go out there and beat them,” Lorenzo Cain said. “I know we haven’t beaten the Cubs as much as we’ve wanted to, but at the same time we’re going to play them a lot this year.
“If we continue to beat the teams that are rebuilding and we get hot and start swinging like we know we can, once we play the Cubs or the Cardinals hopefully we can lock in and put together some wins.”
GETTING ON TRACK: Arcia had a much-needed big night at the plate Tuesday, going 3 for 4 with a run scored to up his average from .190 to .216. He kept it going on Wednesday, singling and doubling in his first two at-bats to jump to .233.
“For his confidence, he needed it,” Counsell said. “To take a deep breath is what you need it for, I think, more than anything. The best part for me was he didn’t chase a ball yesterday. He had a good day because he stayed in the strike zone and he swung at the right pitches. For Orlando, that’s the ticket.”
ONCE AGAIN: Much has been made about the mental errors committed by Jonathan Villar during his Brewers tenure and he made a particularly egregious one in this game. After a routine single to right to lead off the third, Villar tried stretching it into a double only to be thrown out easily by Jesse Winker. The move cost the Brewers a run almost immediately, as Yelich doubled off the wall in left-center four pitches later.
WAIT AND SEE: Third baseman Travis Shaw was forced to leave the game after suffering a right-foot contusion when he fouled a ball off of it in the second inning. He was replaced by Hernán Pérez. In the sixth, Ryan Braun was replaced by Brett Phillips, but no injury was reported by the team.
RECORD
This year: 19-13 Last year: 16-16
COMING UP
Friday: Brewers vs. Pirates, 7:10 p.m. Milwaukee RHP Junior Guerra (2-1, 0.82) vs. Pittsburgh RHP Nick Kingham (1-0, 0.00). TV: FS Wisconsin. Radio: AM-620.