Brewers yield 8 sixth-inning runs in 11-5 loss to Reds
MILWAUKEE -- Emerging Brewers ace Zach Davies threw five solid innings of one-run ball on Saturday, then he and Milwaukee lost it in the sixth.
Eugenio Suarez hit a three-run home run during an eight-run sixth and the Cincinnati Reds beat the Brewers 11-5 on Saturday night.
Davies (9-5) gave up three hits and a walk in the inning, and his wild pitch led to a run.
"It went pretty smoothly for the first five, being able to keep them off balance. Then it kind of fell apart," Davies said.
Suarez homered off reliever Michael Blazek, with two of those runs charged to Davies. The Reds had seven hits in the inning, and Milwaukee added two errors.
"I thought they put together a good inning against (Davies) early and we played poor defensively to finish it to give them a bunch of runs," Milwaukee manager Craig Counsell said.
The inning started when Joey Votto lined a single off Davies' lower leg. Davies insisted after the game that the glancing blow didn't have an effect on his pitching.
Davies gave up five runs and eight hits in five innings. He entered 4-0 with a 2.31 ERA over his previous six starts and hadn't allowed more than three runs since giving up six on June 30.
Milwaukee catcher Martin Maldonado said Davies missed locations with his pitches in the sixth.
"He was throwing the ball pretty good and hitting the spots. Just in the sixth, he started missing pitches," Maldonado said. "It kind of got away from him. He was kind of up in the zone."
Votto had four hits and two RBI and Billy Hamilton, Zack Cozart, Adam Duvall, Brandon Phillips, Tucker Barnhart and Suarez each had two hits for the Reds. Cincinnati had 16 hits.
Ryan Braun hit a solo homer off Dan Straily (8-6) in the sixth. Straily allowed two runs and 10 hits while striking out six over 5 1/3 innings.
Scooter Gennett had four hits for Milwaukee, and Maldonado hit his sixth homer.
Milwaukee and Cincinnati wore jerseys with "Cerveceros" and "Los Rojas," respectively, across the front in honor of Hispanic heritage in baseball.
Brewers: RHP Junior Guerra played catch for the first time as he works his way back from right elbow inflammation. Guerra has been out since Aug. 8 and is eligible to come off the disabled list on Friday. . . . OF Domingo Santana needs at least 20 to 30 minor league at-bats before he's ready to return to the Brewers, Counsell said. Santana has been out since June 10 with right elbow soreness. He began a second rehab assignment earlier this week with Class A Wisconsin. An earlier assignment was cut short when Santana again began to experience soreness in the elbow.
Reds: Cody Reed (0-6, 6.36) will make his first-ever career start against the Brewers. He's coming off his best start of the season, tossing six shutout innings against St. Louis on Monday.
Brewers: Wily Peralta (4-8, 6.38) will make his second start since being recalled from Triple-A Colorado Springs earlier this month. Peralta is 4-4 with a 3.14 ERA in 11 career starts versus the Reds.
