Disappointing opener to the doubleheader
There was nothing memorable about how the Milwaukee Brewers kicked off the first doubleheader in Miller Park history Thursday.
Jesse Winker homered twice and Sonny Gray was tough per usual as the Brewers dropped the seven-inning opener, 6-1, to the Cincinnati Reds.
Milwaukee scored on a sixth-inning homer by catcher Omar Narváez,
preventing it from being shut out for the second time this season
and first time since opening day.
The twin bill was a result of the teams' decision to not play their game Wednesday as scheduled in the wake of the Jacob Blake incident earlier this week in Kenosha. Several other games were postponed across baseball later Wednesday night and Thursday as other organizations followed suit.
The Reds had multiple baserunners reach against Adrian Houser in each of the first three innings.
They got onto the board in the second when Freddy Galvis drew a oneout walk, moved to second on José Garcia's first major-league hit -- a slow roller that came to rest at third base -and scored on a single by Curt Casali.
Nick Castellanos and Winker hit consecutive homers to open the third and boost Cincinnati's lead to 3-0.
It was much slower going for Milwaukee's offense against Gray, a nemesis in recent seasons who took a rare loss against the Brewers on Aug. 9 at Miller Park.
The Brewers loaded the bases in the second on a Ben Gamel single, Orlando Arcia walk and Jace Peterson single but with two outs Eric Sogard lined out to right to end the threat.
The right-hander settled in after that, and two more insurance runs in the fifth by the Reds made the rest academic.
Castellanos legged out a hustle double to open the fifth and send Houser (1-3) to the showers having matched a season-high by allowing nine hits for the second consecutive start.
Manager Craig Counsell then went with left-hander Alex Claudio to match up against the lefty Winker, but Winker foiled that strategy by homering to left to make it a 5-0 game.
Houser was tagged with a seasonhigh four runs for the second straight start as well, upping his ERA to 4.36.
Cincinnati tacked on a run against J.P. Feyereisen on a Castellanos sacrifice fly in the sixth, leaving Castellanos and Winker a combined 6 for 6 with five runs batted in and four runs scored.
Gray (5-1) allowed four singles and two walks with four strikeouts over his 85-pitch day. Narváez homered off his replacement, Nate Jones, with two outs in the sixth.
The doubleheader was the first played in Milwaukee since Sept. 23, 2000, when the Brewers split a doubleheader with the Pittsburgh Pirates at County Stadium.
Josh Lindblom takes on former Brewer Wade Miley in Game 2.
RECORD
Overall: 13-16
Home: 4-7 Road: 9-9
COMING UP
Friday: Pirates at Brewers, 7:10 p.m. Milwaukee RHP Corbin Burnes (0-0, 3.42) vs. Pittsburgh LHP Derek Holland (1-1, 6.17). TV: FS Wisconsin. Radio: AM-620.