Reds 2, Brewers 1: Johnny Cueto got the better of rookie Mike Fiers in a pitcher's duel that snapped a streak of 74 consecutive games at Great American Ball Park with at least one home run as National League Central leader Cincinnati finished a three-game sweep of division rival Milwaukee.
In the first game at Great American Ball Park without a home run since July 29, 2011, the Reds resorted to small ball to push across two in the third. Chris Heisey singled, stole second and scored on Wilson Valdez's looping single to center to tie it at 1. Valdez then moved to third on Fiers' wild pickoff attempt and scored on Brandon Phillips' sacrifice fly.
That was enough for Cueto (12-5), who struck out nine and allowed one run on eight hits over seven innings. Cueto has not allowed more than three runs in any of his last 10 starts.
Logan Ondrusek worked around a pair of two-out singles in the eighth and Aroldis Chapman struck out two and worked around a one-out walk in the ninth for his 17th save. Chapman struck out Ryan Braun to strand the tying run at second base.
Fiers (3-4) allowed two runs (one earned) on five hits over six innings to lower his ERA to 1.96. The 27-year-old right-hander has a 0.89 ERA over his last six starts.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Aramis Ramirez's RBI single in the third snapped Cueto's 23-inning scoreless streak at Great American Ball Park, the second-longest in the park's history behind Carlos Zambrano (30). … The Brewers have scored two runs or fewer in six of Fier's nine starts, including four of the last five. … Chapman has recorded 27 of his past 34 outs by strikeout. … Former Reds SS Barry Larkin was inducted into the Hall of Fame on Sunday.
Milwaukee | Cincinnati | |
Michael Fiers | Player | Johnny Cueto |
Loss | W/L | Win |
6.0 | IP | 7.0 |
4 | Strikeouts | 9 |
5 | Hits | 8 |
1.50 | ERA | 1.29 |
Milwaukee | Cincinnati | |
Martin Maldonado | Player | Brandon Phillips |
2 | Hits | 2 |
0 | RBI | 1 |
0 | HR | 0 |
2 | TB | 2 |
.500 | Avg | .667 |
Team | Hits | HR | TB | Avg | LOB | K | RBI | BB | SB | Errors |
Milwaukee | 10 | 0 | 15 | .270 | 15 | 11 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
Cincinnati | 8 | 0 | 9 | .276 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 |