Another dubious distinction for Reds pitching
CINCINNATI — Josh Hader reached 500 career strikeouts, Luis Urias hit the tying home run and made a clutch catch and the Milwaukee Brewers held off Cincinnati 5-4 Tuesday night to stop the Reds’ season-high, two-game winning streak.
Meanwhile, the Reds are the first team since 1893 for whom no starting pitcher has gotten through six innings in its first 30 games.
Hader worked around a leadoff walk in a hitless ninth and became the third pitcher with saves in his first 12 appearances of a season after Lee Smith in 1994 and Jose Mesa in 2005.
Hader struck out Brandon Drury and Tommy Pham for the final outs and reached 500 strikeouts. Hader accomplished the feat in 293 2/3 innings, the second-fastest behind Aroldis Chapman’s 292 innings.
Jace Peterson broke a 1-1 tie in the sixth with the first of his two doubles for the NL Central-leading Brewers, who ended a threegame losing streak. With the potential tying run on third base with two outs in the eighth, Urias dived to his left at shortstop to snare Kyle Farmer’s liner just above the ground.
Urias’ grab ended Cincinnati’s three-run rally.
“That was an enormous play — a great play,” Counsell said. “I was just hoping he could keep it in the infield, but he caught it.”
Freddy Peralta (2-1) allowed one run and four hits in 5 2/3 innings with a season-high eight strikeouts and one walk.
Cincinnati, a major league-worst 6-24, was trying to come from behind to win for its third straight game after not having accomplished the feat in its first 27 games.
Hunter Greene (1-5) lost his fifth straight start since winning his major league debut at Atlanta on April 10. He allowed two runs, four hits and four walks in 5 1/3 innings, six days after giving up a team-record-tying five home runs in a 10-5 loss at Milwaukee.
“It was a huge step, finding my rhythm as I went on,” Greene said. “You hope to find it on your first pitch, but sometimes, it doesn’t work out that way. Obviously, I had to make adjustments from my last outing.”