Brewers sink Reds' sweep hopes, take series finale

Ryan Ludwick was one of the lone bright spots Wednesday.

The Reds went for the brooms to sweep away the Milwaukee Brewers in a matinee at GABP Wednesday afternoon, but fell behind early and could never mount a rally and will be forced to settle for two out of three. Cincinnati remains eight games over .500 at 41-33. To the details….

The Good

-Ryan Ludwick had a great day, homering twice to raise his batting average to .229. He now has 11 home runs on the season to go along with 33 RBI.

-Todd Frazier got the start and Scott Rolen took a day off (though he did pinch hit), as you might expect for a day game after a night contest. For those wondering, Frazier went 1-for-4 and now stands at .264 on the year while Rolen grounded out in his only at-bat and is batting .195.

-Joey Votto doubled again and upped his league-leading total to 32 on the season.

-Bill Bray pitched a scoreless inning, walking one and striking out one.

The Bad

-Milwaukee was in control for the majority of the day. The Brewers (34-41) took a 2-0 lead as Rickie Weeks homered in the second and never trailed.

-We keep waiting for Homer Bailey (5-6) to turn the corner and be able to finally become a dependable starter. While he keeps teasing us with hints of his full potential, today was another set back. Bailey typically seems to struggle at GABP and did so again today, allowing four earned runs in just four innings of work.

-The Reds went just 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position.

-Jose Arredondo had a minor blow up (three runs in two-thirds of an inning) in the ninth and erased any chance of a comeback.

The Notables

-Zack Greinke proved he can pitch well away from Miller Park, tossing six innings of two-run ball to improve to 9-2 on the season.

-Livan Hernandez is now entrenched in the Brewers pen, but surrendered a ninth inning home run to Ludwick.

-An announced crowd of 28,906 took in the game to complete a tremendous turnout at GABP for an early week series. It’s great to see the city of Cincinnati excited and supporting Reds baseball.
-Up next: The Reds head west to embark upon a 3-city, 11-game road trip that begins in San Francisco on Thursday night. That game will feature two pitchers aiming for their tenth win in Johnny Cueto (9-3, 2.21) and the Giants' Madison Bumgarner (9-4, 3.10). The action is slated to get underway at 10:15et.