Brewers cap regular season with 4-2 win over Reds

Box Score

The Brewers finished off their regular season campaign on a high note, taking a 4-2 win over the Reds. With Cincinnati hoping to secure their playoff spot, Milwaukee forced them to look elsewhere by deploying seven pitchers en route to the win. With the victory, Milwaukee’s 97th victory marked not just a league best, but a high mark for the franchise.

The Reds managed the game’s first lead, scoring a run off of Peralta in the second and third innings. Cincinnati managed three hits off Peralta in his two innings of work, but it was enough to mark up the scoreboard. Elly De La Cruz jumped on a high fastball to lead off the second inning, taking a 1-0 lead. While De La Cruz didn’t take a step forward into superstardom this year statistically, he did do a lot of damage against fastballs, batting over .300.

Cincinnati nearly put together a rally in that second inning, but Andruw Monasterio made a strong defensive play in tandem with Caleb Durbin to shut down the threat. With a runner on second and a groundball darting towards the outfield, Monasterio made a throw on the run to Durbin, barely beating out the slide upon review.

The Brewers got baserunners on in the bottom of the frame, but couldn’t find the breakthrough hit. Caleb Durbin was hit by a pitch by Reds starter Brady Singer to get the lead runner on. Danny Jansen ended up hitting a two-out single, a weak flair down the right field line to put men on the corners, but Singer rebounded by striking out Christian Yelich to end the inning.

Peralta exited the game after just two innings, managing his workload before the playoffs. He struck out three batters during his short outing, often overpowering batters with his curveball and changeup especially.

The Brewers surrendered another home run the following inning. This time, it was TJ Friedl cracking a leadoff shot against DL Hall. He tried throwing a breaking ball inside to break over the plate, but it hung too much over the center and Friedl took it deep.

Facing a 2-0 deficit, that’s when Milwaukee took command of the game. Jackson Chourio and Brice Turang got a hold of Singer for back-to-back doubles. Turang’s hit, a shallow liner to right field, marked his 81st on the season. After hitting 57 last year, it’s another stat that exemplifies the value Turang provided this year.

While the Brewers couldn’t keep the momentum going that inning, Danny Jansen came through the next inning to give Milwaukee its first lead. After Isaac Collins led off with a double, Jansen hit a two-run homer to give the Brewers a 3-2 advantage. In a full count, Singer’s breaking ball drifted in the bottom of the zone, and Jansen’s swing got out early to take it over the left field fence.

The home run from Jansen was enough for the Reds to convince themselves they needed to go to their bullpen. Nick Lodolo was the first out of the ‘pen, making the first relief appearance of his career. Chourio and Turang both got on base again, this time with a single and a walk, to set the stage for Andruw Vaughn, who entered as a pinch hitter. Connecting on the first pitch, Vaughn’s double brought Chourio home as Milwaukee raced ahead 4-2.

Vaughn’s double proved to seal the win for Milwaukee as the Reds couldn’t manage any more offense against an elite bullpen. For the Brewers, having to cover after Peralta’s two innings of work, brought out a whole crew. Aaron Ashby was at the center of it, pitching two excellent innings to earn his sixth hold of the day. For much of the game, whether it was Ashby dropping a low curveball to Elly De La Cruz and following with a high heater, or Trevor Megill making a dominant appearance off the injured list, the entire bullpen shut down the opponents.

It was such a clean showing from the bullpen that Megill, Ashby, Chad Patrick, Jared Koenig, and Abner Uribe combined for six innings without allowing a single hit. The Brewers went to Uribe to close out the game, his seventh of the season, to finish off the year. The cherry on top of an excellent campaign, the team ended with a satisfying win, recording a franchise-best 97 wins in the process.

As for the Reds, with the New York Mets taking a 4-0 loss to the Miami Marlins, Cincinnati secured its place in the playoffs. They start a series at the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday.

The Brewers get a breather while everyone else fights it out in the Wild Card round. Milwaukee makes its next appearance in the Division Series, starting on Saturday on TBS. The Brewers will face the winner of the series between the #4 seed Chicago Cubs and #5 seed San Diego Padres.