Milwaukee Brewers first baseman Mark Reynolds blasted two home runs on Wednesday afternoon to help the Brewers defeat the Cincinnati Reds by a score of 5-1. The Reds are now 4.5 games behind the Brewers in the National League Central.
Reynolds belted his first home run, a two-run shot, in the bottom of the sixth inning off of Cincinnati's Mike Leake (L: 7-9, 3.73 ERA), scoring Rickie Weeks ahead of him. He connected again for a solo shot in the eighth off of reliever Jumbo Diaz. Reynolds now has 16 HR and 36 RBI, which help makes up for his ugly .207 batting average.
Carlos Gomez and Ryan Braun drove in Milwaukee's other two runs in the fifth. Gomez tripled home pitcher Kyle Lohse, and Braun scored Gomez with an RBI single one out later.
Billy Hamiton drove in Cincinnati's lone run with a sacrifice fly that scored Skip Schumacher to give the Reds a short-lived 1-0 lead in the top of the fifth.
Lohse (W: 11-4, 3.07) pitched 6.2 innings, allowing one earned run on four hits. He walked two and struck out three. He also went 1 for 3 with a run scored at the plate.
Injuries have devastated the Reds, and it shows. They lost Joey Votto (quad strain) on July 8 and Brandon Phillips (thumb surgery) on July 10. Since losing Phillips, the Reds are 2-7, including their current six-game losing streak in which both the New York Yankees and the Brewers have swept them.
Following an off day on Thursday, Cincinnati will start a six-game home stand on Friday with three each against the Washington Nationals and Arizona Diamondbacks. Milwaukee will play four at home against the New York Mets beginning on Thursday, and will finish July on the road with three games against the Tampa Bay Rays.