Milwaukee @ Cincinnati preview

Last Meeting ( Jul 24, 2019 ) Cincinnati 4, Milwaukee 5

The red-hot Milwaukee Brewers continue their push toward the National League playoffs with a season-ending six-game road trip, beginning with the first of three at the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday. The Brewers completed their home slate with a 6-1 homestand capped by Sunday's 4-3 victory over Pittsburgh, and are four games clear of Chicago for the final wild-card spot and 3 1/2 behind NL Central-leading St. Louis.

"We're all feeling it. All of us aren't planning on going home anytime soon," Milwaukee first baseman Eric Thames told reporters Sunday after he homered twice to help his team improve to 15-2 in its last 17 games - 10-2 since losing MVP Christian Yelich for the season. The Reds have been trying to play spoiler of late, first winning back-to-back series against wild-card hopefuls Arizona and the Chicago Cubs before dropping two of three to the New York Mets over the weekend. Tucker Barnhart and Kyle Farmer both went deep in Sunday's 6-3 loss to the Mets, leaving Cincinnati with 221 home runs - one shy of the franchise record set in 2005. It will try to establish a club mark against Brewers right-hander Adrian Houser, who opposes Sonny Gray on Tuesday.

TV: 6:40 p.m. ET, FS Wisconsin (Milwaukee), FS Ohio (Cincinnati)

PITCHING MATCHUP: Brewers RH Adrian Houser (6-7, 3.83 ERA) vs. Reds RH Sonny Gray (11-7, 2.80)

Houser was able to finish five innings for the first time in four starts this month but was on the losing end against San Diego on Wednesday, yielding two runs and three hits. Tuesday marks the second time in the last six starts that Houser is pitching on the road, where he is 4-4 with a 4.42 ERA. The 26-year-old has made three relief appearances against the Reds this year and one start in which he surrendered three runs in five innings.

Gray continued his second-half surge with 6 2/3 solid innings in a victory at the Chicago Cubs last Tuesday. He is 6-2 with a 1.91 ERA since the All-Star break, holding opponents to a .164 average and recording 96 strikeouts in 80 innings. Lorenzo Cain is 9-for-19 against Gray, who has a sparkling 1.78 ERA in five career starts versus Milwaukee.

WALK-OFFS

1. Milwaukee is 37-38 on the road but has won eight of its last nine away from home.

2. Brewers LHP Drew Pomeranz retired both batters he faced Sunday and has a 2.35 ERA in 22 games with the club after posting a 5.68 mark with San Francisco earlier in the year.

3. Reds 3B Eugenio Suarez has gone three straight games without a home run to stay stuck on 48, one shy of Ted Kluszewski (1954) for the second-most in team history for a season.

PREDICTION: Reds 5, Brewers 4