Braun homers twice as Brewers trip up Reds
MILWAUKEE -- Ryan Braun hit two home runs and Wily Peralta struck out five as the Milwaukee Brewers avoided a sweep with a 7-3 victory over the Cincinnati Reds on Sunday afternoon at Miller Park.
Braun doubled his first time up and then homered in his next two trips, finishing the day 3-for-5 with five RBI and a pair of runs scored. Since the All-Star break, Braun is batting .378 with eight home runs and 20 RBI.
The Brewers stole four bases in the first inning as they put three on the board against Reds left-hander Cody Reed, who was tagged for six runs on five hits and three walks with a strikeout.
He allowed walks to Keon Broxton and Orlando Garcia to open the first inning then paid the price when Braun cleared the bases with a double to the wall in left center. Chris Carter singled before Reed recorded his first out of the inning but Manny Pina drew a walk to load the bases and Reed hit Jake Elmore with a pitch to make it a 3-0 game.
The second inning didn't go much better for Reed (0-7), who gave up a leadoff double to Broxton and a base hit to Orlando Arcia before Braun cracked a 1-0 change-up to left center for his 21st home run of the season, chasing Reed.
Keyvious Sampson took over from there and worked five innings and allowed just a run -- Braun's second homer of the day -- on two hits while striking out four.
Billy Hamilton went 3-for-4 for Cincinnati, which broke the shutout in the sixth on an RBI double by Joey Votto, but couldn't get much else going against Peralta (5-8), who scattered four hits over six innings in his second start since returning from a two-month demotion to Triple-A Colorado Springs.
Votto made it a 7-3 game in the eighth when he sent an 0-1 offering from Carlos Torres to right for a two-run homer, his 19th of the season.
NOTES: Entering their game Sunday, the Brewers had homered in 16 consecutive contests with 25 blasts in all during that stretch. The streak is the team's longest since going 16 games in a row from July 9-27, 2010 and four off their franchise record of 20, set in 2008. ... 3B Jonathan Villar got a day off Sunday. Since moving from shortstop to third when Orlando Arcia was promoted from Triple-A Colorado Springs, Villar is batting .378 (17-for-45) with a .472 OBP during that stretch. ... Sunday marked the finale of Cincinnati's nine-game, 10-day road trip. The Reds have played 15 of their last 18 games on the road and are 26-30 away from Great American Ball Park this season. ... CF Billy Hamilton was back in Cincinnati's starting lineup Sunday despite being pulled early on Saturday when he jammed his left hand. Hamilton began the day leading the league with 51 stolen bases, three ahead of Milwaukee's Villar.