Villar, Lucroy pace Brewers past Reds
MILWAUKEE -- Jonathan Villar and Jonathan Lucroy collected two hits apiece to lead the Milwaukee Brewers to a 5-4 over the Cincinnati Reds on Sunday afternoon at Miller Park.
Villar reached all four times up and scored three runs. Lucroy reached three times and drove in three runs for the third consecutive game.
Their offense provided plenty of support for Jimmy Nelson (5-3) who gave up two runs on six hits and two walks while striking out five and worked into the eighth for the third time in his last four starts.
Cincinnati's Jay Bruce hit his ninth home run of the season in the second inning. Adam Duvall was hit by a pitch and scored when Tucker Barnhart bounced into a double play to give the Reds a 2-1 lead.
But Nelson faced just three over the minimum the rest of the way and notched his team-leading eighth quality start of the season.
Reds starter Brandon Finnegan (1-4) worked into the seventh, allowing four Milwaukee runs on six hits and four walks with four strikeouts.
Villar was responsible for two of those hits; he went 2-for-2 on the day with a walk, an RBI, two runs scored and a stolen base.
He got Milwaukee started right off the bat, reaching on a leadoff single and advancing to third when Hernan Perez popped out to second baseman Brandon Phillips in foul territory. He scored on Jonathan Lucroy's sacrifice fly for a 1-0 Brewers lead.
Villar sparked Milwaukee again in the third, this time drawing a two-out walk and scoring on Perez's double to the wall in center.
A Lucroy single sent Perez home and put the Brewers back in front, 3-2. Finnegan would surrender one more run in the fifth on an RBI double by Alex Presley and Milwaukee drove in another in the seventh against Dayan Diaz, going up 5-2 on an RBI triple by Lucroy that scored Villar.
The Reds added a pair of runs in the ninth on three straight two-out singles by Tyler Holt, Ivan De Jesus, Jr. and Barnhart but right-hander Blaine Boyer struck out pinch-hitter Jordan Pacheco to earn his first save of the year.
NOTES: Brewers LF Ryan Braun woke up with a stiff neck and was held out of the lineup Sunday. Braun also sat Saturday, a scheduled off day according to manager Craig Counsell, but appeared late as a pinch hitter. ... Reds manager gave INF Eugenio Suarez a day off Sunday and started OF Adam Duvall at 3B. Duvall, who has four homers in his previous six games, had been taking pregame work at 3B recently. ... Milwaukee LHP Will Smith was transferred from Class A Brevard County to Double-A Biloxi as he continues a minor league rehab assignment to work his way back from a sprained left LCL. He is expected to join the Brewers as early as next weekend. ... Cincinnati starters have gone 0-4 with a 4.82 ERA through the first five games of the Reds' current, three-city, 10-game road trip.