Cincinnati Reds’ John Lamb Has Best Career Start in Loss to Brewers

W: Wily Peralta (5-8)

L: John Lamb (0-3)

SV: Francisco Rodriguez (31)

Despite a career-best outing on the mound from rookie John Lamb, the Cincinnati Reds couldn’t win their first series of August against the Milwaukee Brewers, dropping the rubber game, 4-1.

Lamb threw six innings of two-run, five-hit baseball, striking out eight and walking none. The two runs allowed by Lamb were the least he’s given up in his four big league starts, while the five hits and eight strikeouts matched a personal best.

He allowed a solo home run to Ryan Braun in the first inning and an RBI single to Jonathan Lucroy in the third, but that would be the extent of the damage the Brewers did against him. Following Lucroy’s single, Lamb retired nine of the last 10 batters he faced and recorded five of his eight strikeouts.

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As has been the case many times this season, a great start by a Reds pitcher wasn’t backed up with much run support. After a 12-run outburst in Saturday’s win, the Reds’ offense struggled to string hits together against Wily Peralta. They picked up seven hits against Peralta, but only once had more than one baserunner in an inning. That came in the second inning, when the Reds scored their only run after Todd Frazier doubled and scored on a weak ground-ball single up the middle by Brayan Pena.

The Reds blew a chance to tie the game in the eighth against the Brewers’ bullpen. A one-out double from Jay Bruce, which nearly left the yard, and a walk to Joey Votto put runners on first and second, but Brandon Phillips grounded into a 6-4-3 double play to end the threat.

Sam LeCure relieved Lamb and threw a scoreless seventh inning, but gave up his first runs since returning to the Reds in the eighth. Martin Maldonado led off the inning with a double and scored on a triple from Jean Segura. LeCure was charged with a second run when Lucroy hit a sacrifice fly off of Jumbo Diaz.

Other Notes:

• Frazier and Votto each picked up a pair of hits, but the rest of the team only had four combined base knocks.
• Since his big game in the Reds’ 12-5 win against the Detroit Tigers on Tuesday, Eugenio Suarez has picked up only one hit in 25 at-bats. He was 0-for-4 against the Brewers on Sunday.
• The game marked the 11th time in the month of August that the Reds have been held to one run or fewer in a game.

Up Next: The Reds travel to Wrigley Field on Monday to begin a three-game set with the Chicago Cubs. Michael Lorenzen, who has pitched very well since he was demoted to Triple-A Louisville, will get the start in place of David Holmberg. Kyle Hendricks is slated to start for the Cubs. First pitch will be at 8:05 p.m. ET.

Next: Reds' September call-up predictions