Reds open series with win in Milwaukee
MILWAUKEE -- Homer Bailey threw six shutout innings and Adam Duvall hit his 27th home run of the season as the Cincinnati Reds opened a three-game series against the Milwaukee Brewers with a 7-4 victory Friday night at Miller Park.
Making his third start since undergoing Tommy John surgery last spring, Bailey (2-1) scattered three hits while striking out 11.
He was challenged just once, putting two on with nobody out in the fifth, but got out of it with an infield popup and pair of strikeouts, then struck out the side in the sixth.
Duvall and Brandon Philips finished the day with three hits each, as the Reds collected 11.
Brewers starter Jimmy Nelson (6-12) showed signs of snapping out of his recent funk, working five full innings for the first time since July 22 and holding the Reds to three runs on six hits and three walks with seven strikeouts.
He retired his first two batters but walked Joey Votto and plunked Adam Duvall before Brandon Phillips' base hit loaded the bases.
Nelson missed on three straight 1-2 offerings and walked Scott Schebler, which drove in Votto and gave the Reds a 1-0 lead.
With one out in the third, Duvall doubled the lead with his 27th home run of the season and the Reds went up, 3-0, on an RBI single by Eugenio Suarez.
Cincinnati broke the game open with four in the seventh but Ramon Flores snapped the shutout bid an inning later with a solo home run, his second of the season.
Pinch-hitter Manny Pina made it a three-run game with two out in the ninth on a three-run homer to center off Keyvius Sampson but Raisel Iglesias got Martin Maldonado to fly out to left to end it.
Brewers starter Jimmy Nelson showed signs of snapping out of his recent funk, working five full innings for the first time since July 22 and holding the Reds to three runs on six hits and three walks with seven strikeouts.
He retired his first two batters but walked Joey Votto and plunked Adam Duvall before Brandon Phillips' base hit loaded the bases.
Nelson missed on three straight 1-2 offerings and walked Scott Schebler, which drove in Votto and gave the Reds a 1-0 lead.
With one out in the third, Duvall doubled the lead with his 27th home run of the season and the Reds went up, 3-0, on an RBI single by Eugenio Suarez.
NOTES: 2B Brandon Phillips (quad) and LF Scott Schebler (calf) were back in the Reds' lineup Friday. Both players were forced to leave Cincinnati's game Tuesday and sat out Wednesday against the Cardinals because of their injuries. ... OF Domingo Santana was in the starting lineup Friday for Class A Wisconsin as he continues a minor league rehab assignment. Santana has been out since June 10 with a sore right elbow.