Reds Lose Again, Brewers Dominate

Sunday afternoon at GABP is a day that many Reds fans will want to forget as soon as possible. After a difficult loss Friday night

Aug 25, 2013; Cincinnati, OH, USA; Cincinnati Reds first baseman Joey Votto (19) at first base during the fourth inning against the Milwaukee Brewers at Great American Ball Park. Mandatory Credit: Frank Victores-USA TODAY Sports

the Reds won Saturday closing the NL Central lead gap down to 2.5 games. Sunday though the Reds were dominated by Brewers pitcher Marco Estrada who sent them home with a 3-1 loss.

Estrada went 7.0 strong innings, giving up only 1 hit while striking out 9. At one point he retired 19 of 20 batters, an absolutely dominating performance by a pitcher who was (5-4) coming into this game.

Greg Reynolds was called up to take the place of the injured Tony Cingrani. Reynolds has made one appearance for the Reds this season which was a loss. Reynolds has been tearing it up at triple A Louisville where he is 12-3 on the season. Sunday though Reynolds went 6 innings where he only gave up 5 hits and 2 earned runs. That is not a bad outing for Reynolds, unfortunately he did not have the run support he needed.

The Reds offense has been an issue at times this season, Sunday was one of those issue games. A day after 7 of the 8 position players had 2 hits each they were only able to manage 5 hits and 4 of those came in the final two innings off the two Brewers relievers.

Joey Votto’s solo home run (20) in the 9th inning would be the only run the Reds would score on Sunday. After going 0-fer on Saturday night Shin Soo Choo came through with a hit while Saturday’s player of the game Zach Cozart would go 0-fer on Sunday. The way this team hits makes no sense, one night guys are hot, the next their as cold as a frozen pond. Votto, Brandon Phillips and Shin Soo Choo have been the only consistent hitters this season. Ryan Ludwick did have a hit in a pinch hit situation, if Ludwick gets hot look for offense to heat up a little as well.

Reds relief pitcher Manny Parra struggled when he came in for the 7th, giving up one run and being pulled after 2/3 of an inning. Sam LeCure and Logan Ondrusek finished the game for the Reds, unfortunately in a losing effort.

Cincinnati now hits the road for a 6 game road trip, 3 against the St. Louis Cardinals and 3 against the Colorado Rockies. Both teams have given the Reds fits this year, this could be a telling trip for the 2013 Reds.