Brewers at Reds
Scooter Gennett has sweetened the pot by pushing his hitting streak to seven games against the team that waived him in spring training. The 27-year-old Gennett aims to send the cellar-dwelling Cincinnati Reds to a three-game home series sweep of the National League Central-leading Milwaukee Brewers on Thursday at Great American Ball Park.
Gennett launched a two-run homer in Wednesday's 4-3 victory to improve to 12-for-30 with three blasts, five RBIs and 10 runs scored during his hitting streak. Adam Duvall went deep for the second straight contest to highlight his third consecutive two-RBI performance heading into a matchup versus Brewers starter Jimmy Nelson, against whom he is 6-for-12 in his career. While Cincinnati has won three of four after a dismal 1-13 stretch, Milwaukee has dropped four of five on its six-game road trip. Ryan Braun tied Lance Berkman for the most homers (23) by a visiting player at Great American Ball Park and looks to tee off against Homer Bailey, against whom he is 12-for-37 with two blasts.
TV: 7:10 p.m. ET, FSN Wisconsin (Milwaukee), FSN Ohio (Cincinnati)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Brewers RH Jimmy Nelson (5-4, 3.50 ERA) vs. Reds RH Homer Bailey (0-1, 43.20)
Nelson sustained his first loss in a month on Friday after allowing four runs in five innings of a 5-4 setback at Atlanta. The 28-year-old fanned eight batters in that contest and 49 over his last six outings. Nelson improved to 4-3 in his career versus Cincinnati after permitting one run in seven innings in a 5-1 triumph on April 13.
Bailey's season debut was an unmitigated disaster, as the 31-year-old yielded eight runs on six hits with three walks in 1 2/3 innings at Washington. "I had no excuses. I just didn't pitch well. That's all I can say," Bailey said after the 18-3 shellacking. Bailey will look to rebound against Milwaukee, against which he is 5-8 with a 4.64 ERA in 22 career appearances.
WALK-OFFS
1. Milwaukee 3B Travis Shaw has homered in three straight games, going 4-for-9 with six RBIs and five runs scored.
2. Cincinnati 3B Eugenio Suarez is 1-for-18 in his last seven outings.
3. Brewers 1B Eric Thames is 0-for-8 with five strikeouts in the series and 15-for-92 with 39 strikeouts in June.