Brewers 4, Reds 2: Thames, Peralta lead the way
CINCINNATI – Eric Thames enjoyed his first glimpse of Great American Ball Park.
Homering for the fifth time in the four-game series, Thames applied the finishing touch Sunday to the Milwaukee Brewers’ 4-2 victory over the Cincinnati Reds.
The triumph allowed the Brewers to take three of four from the Reds and go 5-1 on the first two stops of this three-city, nine-game trip. The Brewers have three games in Chicago against the Cubs before returning home.
Beyond Thames’ ongoing display of power, the big news for the Brewers was the continued success of right-hander Wily Peralta. In six innings, he surrendered only three hits and two runs to boost his record to 3-0 with a 2.65 ERA through three starts.
It has been a stark contrast for Peralta to the 2016 season, when he staggered to a 4-7 start and 6.68 ERA through 13 outings, resulting in a demotion to the minors.
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BOX SCORE: Brewers 4, Reds 2
"Being able to start good is huge for me," Peralta said. "That was my goal. When I went home (after last season), I really thought about it. I was struggling early in the season the past few years."
Big right-hander Sal Romano made his first major-league start for the Reds and the Brewers made him work for every out. Romano worked around a pair of walks and an error in the first inning but needed 35 pitches to do so.
Manny Piña led off the second with a double and Kirk Nieuwenhuis was hit by a pitch but centerfielder Billy Hamilton chased down Orlando Arcia’s deep drive and again Romano escaped without a run. He would not be as fortunate in the third inning.
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After second baseman Arismendy Alcantara booted Thames’ leadoff grounder, Ryan Braun sent a 1-0 fastball the other way to right for a two-run homer. Travis Shaw followed by giving himself a nice 27th birthday present – a long home run to right that gave the Brewers a 3-0 lead.
Romano exited after that inning, having thrown a whopping 82 pitches. Two errors by Alcantara didn’t help but neither did the four walks he issued.
Peralta gave two runs back in the fourth when he issued a two-out walk to Adam Duvall, then hung a first-pitch slider to Eugenio Suarez, who parked it in the left-field stands.
The score stayed 3-2 until the seventh when Thames led off with a blast to right off Reds reliever Tim Adleman. Thames became the first visiting player to hit five home runs in a four-game series at Great American. Cincinnati’s Aaron Boone did it in May 2003 against St. Louis.
BEHIND THE BOX SCORE
* Speedy Reds centerfielder Billy Hamilton probably stole four or five runs in the series with spectacular catches. None was better than his extra-base stealer off the bat of Nick Franklin in the sixth. Hamilton raced back at full speed and made a diving, sprawling catch of the deep drive with a runner on and two down.
* Brewers catcher Manny Piña has been swinging a hot bat but he’s also been a deterrent to the running game of opponents. When he threw out Hamilton at second base in the first inning (Hamilton’s first caught stealing in six tries), it made Piña 4 for 8 in nabbing runners.
STAT SHEET
* Braun’s two-run homer was the 22nd of his career at Great American Ball Park and 37th against the Reds. Both are career-high numbers. He moved into second place on the Brewers’ RBI list with 945 but it won’t be easy to catch leader Robin Yount, who accumulated 1,406 during his 20-year career.
* Brewers utility player Hernan Perez boosted his average from .115 to .200 by going 3 for 4 Saturday with a single, double and home run. Perez said his poor start was in part attributed to chasing pitches out of the strike zone.
“In games before, I had lost my swing a little bit,” Perez said. “I was swinging at bad pitches. I’ve been working on my strike zone in the (batting) cage. I’m watching the ball better and being more patient at the plate.”
TAKEAWAY
The Brewers have to be excited by what they've seen from right-hander Wily Peralta through his first three starts of the season. Until the final two months of last season, he had mostly gone backward since his 17-win season in 2014. If he keeps pitching like this, the Brewers will have the pleasant choice of keeping or trading him for a big return.
RECORD
This year: 7-6 (2-5 home; 5-1 away)
Last year: 5-8
NEXT GAME
Monday: Brewers at Cubs, 7:05 p.m. Milwaukee RHP Chase Anderson (1-0, 0.69) vs. Chicago RHP John Lackey (1-1, 3.00). TV: FS Wisconsin. Radio: AM-620.