Cincinnati Reds Beat Brewers in Back-and-Forth Affair

W: Burke Badenhop (2-4)

L: Tyler Cravy (0-7)

SV: Aroldis Chapman (32)

A trio of three-run innings lifted the Cincinnati Reds to a 9-7 victory in a back-and-forth affair with the Milwaukee Brewers on Saturday night.

The Reds banged out 13 hits, led by Brandon Phillips with three. Skip Schumaker and Joey Votto also picked up multi-hit games.

From the start, it was clear that Josh Smith was not long for this game. In his fourth career start, Smith gave up a pair of first-inning runs.

The Reds jumped ahead in the third. Smith led things off with a triple and scored on a ground-out by Jason Bourgeois. Skip Schumaker then singled and scored on a two-run home run by Votto.

But Smith immediately coughed the lead up in the bottom of the inning on an RBI single by Khris Davis. The Brewers jumped back on top in the fourth, Smith’s final inning, on a solo homer to Logan Schafer, his first all season. Smith was charged with four runs on six hits and two walks, while striking out three.

Tony Cingrani relieved Smith and the Brewers extended their lead against him on a two-run homer by Domingo Santana, but the Reds would battle their way back once again.

Todd Frazier made it a 6-5 game with a two-run bomb, his 35th of the year, in the sixth and Brayan Pena tied it on a ground out.

But the Brewers would take the lead once more, and yet again it was Santana who did the damage with a run-scoring single off of Manny Parra. It was the first earned run allowed by Parra since Aug. 9.

The Reds would battle back and take the lead for good in the eighth. Eugenio Suarez hit an infield single to lead the inning off, but the next two batters were retired. Jason Bourgeois kept the inning alive with a single, and Schumaker scored Suarez on a bloop double to tie it. Phillips then brought home the go-ahead runs with a two-run single.

J.J. Hoover got the Reds through the eighth unscathed and handed the ball off to Aroldis Chapman in the ninth, who picked up his 32nd save of the year.

Ryan Mattheus, and Burke Badenhop also pitched scoreless appearances, though Badenhop did allow an inherited runner to score in the seventh.

Other Notes:

• With a double, a homer and a walk, Votto extended his on-base streak to 35 games.
• The only Red in the starting lineup to get a hit was Tucker Barnhart, who went 0-for-4 with a pair of strikeouts.
• The win assured that the Reds would not lose 100 games, so at least we can celebrate that, right? Right?

Up Next: The Reds will go for the sweep of the Brewers as the two teams wrap up their series on Sunday with another rookie matchup as Anthony DeSclafani faces off against Ariel Pena. First pitch is slated for 2:10 p.m. ET.

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