Milwaukee @ Cincinnati preview

Last Meeting ( May 3, 2014 ) Milwaukee 2, Cincinnati 6

The Milwaukee Brewers try to salvage a split of their four-game series with the host Cincinnati Reds when the teams meet Sunday. The Brewers forge ahead a while longer without power-hitting outfielder Ryan Braun, who was placed on the 15-day disabled list Saturday with a strained oblique. Braun has missed the last seven games with the ailment and Milwaukee has gone 3-4 in that span.

Reds second baseman Brandon Phillips returned to the lineup Saturday after getting his first day off of the season the night before and delivered three hits and scored two runs. Joey Votto came into Saturday’s game 3-for-15 with runners in scoring position this season, drawing 11 walks, and the first baseman went 0-for-5 to drop his average to .269, its lowest since mid-April. Milwaukee received a good sign when Aramis Ramirez homered Saturday to end an 0-for-28 streak, but he went hitless in his next three at-bats.

TV: 4:10 p.m. ET, FSN Wisconsin (Milwaukee), FSN Ohio (Cincinnati)

PITCHING MATCHUP: Brewers RH Kyle Lohse (4-1, 2.70 ERA) vs. Reds RH Alfredo Simon (4-1, 1.60)

Lohse comes in riding a four-game winning streak and the Brewers have won his last five starts overall. He’s definitely looking more like the pitcher who went 16-3 with a 2.86 ERA for the St. Louis Cardinals in 2012, rather than the one who finished 11-10 with a 3.35 mark in his first season in Milwaukee last year. Lohse spent parts of the 2006 and 2007 seasons in Cincinnati as well and is 8-7 in his career at Great American Ballpark.

Simon entered Saturday fourth in the NL in ERA and a solo home run away from bringing an unbeaten mark into this game. His only loss came three weeks ago against the Tampa Bay Rays, when he threw a season-high eight innings but gave up a second-inning homer to James Loney for the game’s only run. Simon pitches to contact, evident by his 4.4 strikeouts per start.

WALK-OFFS

1. The Brewers are 12-4 on the road this season, with two of those losses coming at Cincinnati.

2. Reds RHP Johnny Cueto is the first Reds pitcher since Bucky Walters in 1944 to open the season with seven consecutive starts of at least seven innings.

3. Reds OF Billy Hamilton missed the previous two games of the series after suffering sprained knuckles on his left hand following a diving catch in Thursday’s series opener.

PREDICTION: Reds 5, Brewers 3