The Brewers clinched a 13th consecutive winning series against the Cincinnati Reds who haven't won a series in the rivalry since August 2022.
The standings say the difference between the Cincinnati Reds and the best team in the majors is 15 games.
The reality bites a little deeper.
When the Milwaukee Brewers scored the tying run against the Reds on a throwing error by Elly De La Cruz in the ninth inning Aug. 16, it highlighted the Cincinnati Achilles' heel that figures to keep the Reds from the promised land as long as they fail to fix it.
Then an error in left field by Jake Fraley, who fell down on the play and left the game hurt, allowed the go-ahead run to score in the 10th in a game eventually won in 11 innings by the the Brewers on Andruw Monasterio's second home run of the year, a three-run, pinch-hit shot.
That's how it's been going these days for the Brewers, who haven't lost in August, breaking a tie with the 1987 club for longest winning streak in Brewers history, at 14.
It's also how it's been going these recent years for a good-but-not-great Reds team that has yet to shake its shaky fielding.
And instead of keeping pace with the New York Mets for the final National League playoff position, the Reds dropped to 1 1/2 games back of the final wild card.
Errors led to a pair of unearned Brewers runs the night before in a game Milwaukee won by that margin after plowing under an early 8-1 Reds lead.
Even in a season the Reds have upgraded the fielding – most recently with the trade-deadline acquisition of Gold Glove third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes – they lag well behind many of the other contenders in that area.
That’s especially true of the Brewers, whose exceptional fielding in recent seasons has been a key to this three-year run atop the National League Central.
“We knew going into this (series) that we needed to play clean baseball to beat that team over there,” Reds veteran Gavin Lux said.
Reds starter Zack Littell, making his third start since being acquired in a deadline trade from Tampa Bay, allowed only one run in a sloppy-fielding second inning.
Caleb Durbin scored from first on a Brice Turang double that got over right fielder Noelvi Marte’s head on a bad read. After an ensuing error by Steer at first, Littell got out of it – and retired 13 of the final 16 batters he faced.
That included a leadoff double in the seventh to his last better. Graham Ashcraft took over and stranded the runner at third.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Sad glove song for Cincinnati Reds as miscues bury them in loss to Crew
Category: Baseball
