MILWAUKEE - The Brewers finally came out of their offensive slump by erupting Sunday in a 9-1 victory over the Cincinnati Reds at Miller Park.
Having spent most of Sunday afternoon loading the bases with runners with little to show for it, the Brewers finally broke through in the seventh when first baseman Matt Clark belted a three-run home run, part of a five-run inning.
After getting just two hits of Reds’ starters in each of their last two games, the Brewers collected eight off Cincinnati right-hander Mike Leake (11-12), who also walked and hit left fielder Khris Davis with a pitch to lead off the fifth.
The Brewers put the leadoff batter aboard in each of the first five innings and had a runner in scoring positing with one out.
But Milwaukee could do little with the chances Leake provided and left the bases loaded in the first.
Right-hander Matt Garza (8-8) did his best to cover for the offense, holding the Reds to a run on four hits over six innings with six strikeouts and laid down a perfect bunt in the second to get the Brewers on the board.
Mark Reynolds, starting at third base Sunday, led off with a walk and moved to second on a base hit by shortstop Jean Segura. Both runners advanced when Garza dropped his bunt just inside the foul line and a few feet in front of the batter’s box to bring up Gomez, who hit a sac fly to right making it 1-0.
Milwaukee added two more in the fourth on a two-run single by catcher Jonathan Lucroy, then broke the game open with five in the seventh, capped off by Clark’s third home run in as many starts.
Reynolds took right-hander J.J. Hoover to left for his first home run in a month as the Brewers collected 15 total hits off Reds pitchers.
Lucroy accounted for three of them and reached four times on the day while Gomez, Segura, Davis and Reynolds finished with two apiece.
Cincinnati got on the board in the sixth, when first baseman Todd Frazier hit Garza’s first offering of the inning to left for his team-leading 26th home run of the season.
Milwaukee 9, Cincinnati 2
CIN ab r h bi MIL ab r h bi
Hmilton cf 3 0 1 0 Gomez cf 3 1 2 1
Negron 3b 3 0 0 0 Gennett 2b 5 1 2 1
Frazier 1b 4 1 1 1 Lucroy c 4 0 3 2
Msoraco c 3 0 0 0 Braun rf 3 1 1 1
Rodrguz ph 1 1 1 0 Davis lf 4 1 2 0
Phllps 2b 3 0 0 0 Estrada rp 0 0 0 0
Elmore 2b 1 0 0 0 Clark 1b 5 1 1 3
Bruce rf 3 0 1 0 Rynolds 3b 4 2 1 1
Lutz ph 1 0 0 0 Segura ss 5 0 2 0
Ludwick lf 3 0 2 1 Garza sp 2 1 0 0
Cozart ss 3 0 0 0 Jffrss rp 0 0 0 0
Sntigo ph 1 0 1 0 Parra ph 2 1 1 0
Leake sp 2 0 0 0
Hnnhn ph 1 0 0 0
Ondrusk rp 0 0 0 0
Contrrs rp 0 0 0 0
Hoover rp 0 0 0 0
Bourgos ph 1 0 0 0
Totals 33 2 7 2 Totals 37 9 15 9
Cincinnati 000 001 001 - 2
Milwaukee 010 200 51x - 9
LOB-Milwaukee 0, Cincinnati 0. 2B-R.Santiago (8). HR-Clark (3), Frazier (26), Mr.Reynolds (22). SB-C.Gomez (31), B.Hamilton (56).
IP H R ER BB SO
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Cincinnati
Leake 6 8 3 3 3 3
Ondrusek X\c 5 5 5 0 0
Contreras Z\c 1 0 0 2 0
Hoover 1 1 1 1 0 2
Milwaukee
Garza 6 4 1 1 3 6
Jeffress 1 0 0 0 0 1
Estrada 1 0 0 0 0 2
Wooten 1 3 1 1 0 0
Inherited runners-scored-Contreras 2-2, Jeffress 1-0. HBP-K.Davis (by Leake).
Umpires-Home, Quinn Wolcott; First, CB Bucknor; Second, Dan Iassogna; Third, Dale Scott.
T-3:8. A-41,870 (45,808)
