Brewers: Wild 6-run 5th inning carries Crew to 7th straight win
By Phil Watson
The Milwaukee Brewers had a little bit of everything in the top of the fifth inning Saturday night at Great American Ballpark.
There was a hit batsman, a replay challenge, an ejection, a wild pickoff throw and a balk with a runner at third base.
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Oh, and there was also that little matter of the Brewers (35-48) sending 12 men to the plate, scoring six runs en route to their seventh straight victory, a 7-3 win over the Cincinnati Reds.
There were also two pitching changes for Cincinnati (36-43) in the inning. The first of those changes came after Reds starter Josh Smith (0-2) tied a club record by hitting his fourth batter of the game, plunking Carlos Gomez in the left wrist to load the bases.
Gomez had to come out of the game and is day-to-day with a contusion on the wrist.
The replay challenge of Ryan Braun’s steal of third base during the six-run outburst may have been the fulcrum for the huge inning. After replays weren’t conclusive, Milwaukee went on to score five more times.
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The Reds scored first when Marlon Byrd took a Jimmy Nelson sinker that didn’t out to center field for his 14th home run of the season with one out in the bottom of the second.
Milwaukee evened things in the fourth. Adam Lind led off the inning with his 13th homer of the season—and his third during the Brewers’ winning streak—to tie the game 1-1. He’s also driven in at least one run in eight straight games.
Then came the fifth.
Gerardo Parra singled to lead off the inning and, with one out, moved up to second with Smith threw wildly to first on a pickoff attempt.
Braun singled to center to drive in Parra for a 2-1 Milwaukee lead.
Braun stole second and then third, with Cincinnati catcher Brayan Pena ejected for arguing after the replay review.
Smith walked Lind and then hit Gomez to load the bases. That ended Smith’s night while Shane Peterson came on to pinch-run for Gomez.
Aramis Ramirez extended his hitting streak to seven games with a single off right-hander Ryan Mattheus to center that drove in Braun and kept the bases loaded.
The merry-go-round continued with RBI singled by Jean Segura and Scooter Gennett. After Nelson struck out, Mattheus balked home a run, then intentionally walked Parra to to re-load the bases.
A walk to Lucroy forced in the sixth run of the inning and the Reds turned to right-hander Pedro Villareal, who got Braun to bounce out to finally end the carnage.
Ivan De Jesus, who had entered the game during a double-switch in the top of the inning, homered to right field to make it a 7-2 game in the bottom of the fifth.
Byrd’s RBI single in the sixth closed the gap to 7-3 and Nelson (6-8) came out after 5.2 innings, allowing three runs on eight hits with a walk and five strikeouts en route to winning his third straight start.
Michael Blazek got out of the jam in the sixth and wound up working one inning. Will Smith and Jeremy Jeffress each recorded two outs and Jonathan Broxton worked a scoreless ninth.
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Segura was 3-for-4 to spearhead the Berwers’ 11-hit attack. Parra, Lind and Ramirez each had two hits.
The Brewers clinched their fourth straight series win and can cap off a 7-0 road trip with a win in Sunday’s finale.
Taylor Jungmann (2-1, 2.79 ERA) goes for Milwaukee in the 12:10 p.m. Central matinee, with right-hander Mike Leake (5-4, 4.38) scheduled for Cincinnati.
This will be Jungmann’s first career appearance against the Reds and just his sixth big league start and appearance overall. He worked six innings, allowing three runs—two earned—in a 4-3 win at Philadelphia on Tuesday.
Leake is 2-3 in nine career starts against the Brewers, with a 4.61 ERA and 32 strikeouts in 56.2 innings. He hasn’t faced the Brewers in 2015, but was 1-3 in four starts last season, allowing 13 runs in 25 innings and fanning 15.
Next: Gomez Slams Crew To 6th Straight Win