Ryan Braun, Hernan Perez and Jonathan Lucroy homered as the Brewers came from behind to beat the Reds for the second straight day, the latest a rain-delayed, 5-4 win on Mother’s Day at Great American Ball Park that featured a thrilling finish.
The Reds took a 4-1 lead after four innings, but the Brewers chipped away with a run apiece in every inning from the fifth through the eighth. Lucroy drove in two of those runs, first with a well-placed double in the sixth inning, then with a booming home run off Reds reliever Ross Ohlendorf in the eighth that gave the Brewers the lead.
In the ninth, Lucroy helped Jeremy Jeffress close the game by throwing out speedy pinch-runner Billy Hamilton trying to steal second base for the game’s final out. The play was reviewed by the umpires and stood as called.
“We got down the last two games early, but our offense kept battling back, kept inching us closer,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. ” And the bullpen did a really nice job again.”
Brewers center fielder Ramon Flores made a diving catch for the second out of the ninth inning before Lucroy ended it by retiring Hamilton. Jeffress improved to 8-for-8 in save chances and Milwaukee earned a four-game series split.
“We called up, and they said there’s a chance it could be overturned, but we weren’t conclusive either,” said Reds manager Bryan Price about the decision to challenge the call. “It has to be conclusive to get the call overturned. The replay served its purpose. It was inconclusive. We didn’t have enough information in order to overturn the play.”
The Reds, who got an RBI apiece from four different players, including Adam Duvall’s solo home run in the fourth inning off Brewers starter Junior Guerra, were trying to cover the final five innings with relief pitchers after starter John Lamb left the game with a sprained left thumb at the start of the fifth.
The start of Sunday’s finale was delayed one hour and 55 minutes by rain.
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