Milwaukee @ Cincinnati preview
Great American Ball Park
Last Meeting ( Jul 5, 2014 ) Milwaukee 1, Cincinnati 0
Right field hasn’t been a question in Milwaukee or Cincinnati for the most part in recent years as the Brewers’ Ryan Braun and Reds’ Jay Bruce have filled that position capably. Both players are very much in question for different reasons on Sunday as the Reds host the Brewers in the rubber match of a three-game set. With the exception of last season’s 65-game suspension for his role in baseball's Biogenesis doping scandal, Braun has consistently delivered 30-homer and 100-RBI seasons.
Braun is in the middle of another solid campaign with 11 home runs and 49 RBIs through 67 games, but his injury-riddled season took another turn after he left Saturday’s 1-0 win in the second inning with back spasms. Conversely, Bruce is in the midst of a career-worst 23 at-bat hitless streak, which comes on the heels of a stretch in which he went 7-for-12 and posted four straight multi-hit efforts from June 25-28. The slump has mirrored the Reds’ struggling offense, which has been shut out in three of its last five contests.
TV: 1:10 p.m. ET, FSN Wisconsin (Milwaukee), FSN Ohio (Cincinnati)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Brewers RH Yovani Gallardo (5-5, 3.51 ERA) vs. Reds RH Mat Latos (1-1, 2.45)
After posting a 1.00 ERA over his previous four starts, Gallardo was pounded for a season-high eight runs (five earned) on 10 hits in Sunday’s 10-4 setback against the Colorado Rockies. "I just know coming out watching him throw – I know when he's off – and you look at the great curveball he's had for quite a while now, he didn't have it today," Milwaukee manager Ron Roenicke told the team’s official site following the game. Gallardo is 0-1 with a 3.46 ERA in two turns versus the Reds this season and 7-7 with a 4.26 ERA in 22 all-time starts against them.
Latos and reliever Sam LeCure combined on a one-hitter against the San Diego Padres on Monday, but it wasn’t enough for Latos as the Reds failed to produce any offense for him against his former team in a 1-0 loss. The outing marked the third time in his four turns this season in which the 26-year-old Virginia native allowed fewer than two runs. Latos settled for a no-decision in his season debut against the Brewers on June 14 despite giving up only two hits over six scoreless frames and is 2-4 with a 3.28 ERA in nine career starts against them.
WALK-OFFS
1. The Reds have won six of the nine meetings in 2014 and 17 of their last home 24 games against Milwaukee.
2. Bruce, who has faced Gallardo more than any other pitcher, is 15-for-49 in his career against the Brewers’ ace.
3. Milwaukee closer Francisco Rodriguez needs one more save to break Francisco Cordero's franchise record of 27 before the All-Star break, set in 2007.
PREDICTION: Brewers 2, Reds 1