Alexander goes 5 2⁄3 hitless innings as Brewers extend Reds’ offensive misery

Reds avoid shutout, but 3-2 victory gets Brewers back to .500

Box Score

Tyler Alexander hasn’t looked too bad early this season, but when he signed as a free agent in February, hardly anyone thought that he’d be starting games for the club in the first week of April. A bevy of injuries to Milwaukee’s starting rotation has tested their depth early, so Alexander was called on tonight to face a struggling Reds offense. If those Reds hitters thought they would catch a break against Alexander, they were sorely mistaken.

Alexander set the tone early in this one, as he got TJ Friedl on a flyout to start the game and then struck out Spencer Steer and Elly De La Cruz. Jackson Chourio reached on an error in the bottom of the first, but he was caught trying to steal second base, and there was nothing else of note for the home nine.

The Reds got a couple of baserunners in the top of the second when Jeimer Candelario worked a one-out walk, and the next batter, Blake Dunn, was hit by a pitch. But Alexander got Gavin Lux to ground into a fielder’s choice, and Santiago Espinal popped out to end the threat.

The Brewers created a threat of their own in the bottom of the inning when they manufactured the game’s first run. With one out, Sal Frelick continued his nice start to the season with a line drive single to left. He then stole second base, and after a Rhys Hoskins walk and an Oliver Dunn lineout, Garrett Mitchell came through with a big two-out single, just a nice little drop shot into left field, to get the Brewers on the board. After two, it was 1-0 Brewers—the dreaded 1-0 score by which the Reds had lost the previous three games.

Alexander worked around another walk in the third but had a fairly easy inning, and Martinez also looked good in the inning as he went three-up, three-down against the top of the Brewer order. Christian Encarnacion-Strand put some good wood on an Alexander sweeper to start the fourth inning, but he hit it right at Chourio, and a Candelario pop-up and Dunn groundout gave Alexander another quick, clean inning.

The Brewers got nothing aside from a Hoskins walk in the fourth, and Alexander—from whom the Brewers were hoping to merely get four innings out of tonight—was back out for the fifth. He walked Espinal with one out, but he struck out the other three batters he faced and was through five on 79 pitches—and despite some hard contact, he hadn’t allowed a hit.

Milwaukee then assured that this would not be a record-breaking fourth straight 1-0 Cincinnati loss in the bottom of the inning. Mitchell led off the inning with a double down the right field line, one that wasn’t hit especially well but was in exactly the right spot. After Joey Ortiz grounded out, Brice Turang was up, looking to extend a hitting streak that included all seven games this season plus three more at the end of last year. Turang got a fat fastball in a 3-1 count that he put deep into right field for his second home run of the season, and the Brewers were up 3-0. The Brewers didn’t get any more runs in the inning, but a sharp single from Chourio did extend his own hitting streak to seven games.

Alexander went back out for the top of the sixth and retired the first two batters he faced, Steer and De La Cruz, the latter with a great play on a bunt attempt. That put Alexander at 83 pitches, and with the right-handed Encarnacion-Strand coming up, Pat Murphy decided that was the end of the line for him. It was a fantastic start: Alexander finished with 5 ²⁄₃ innings pitched, no hits, three walks, and six strikeouts.

Abner Uribe replaced Alexander and needed just three pitches to retire Encarnacion-Strand on a groundout. After the Brewers didn’t do much in the bottom of the sixth, Uribe was back out for the seventh. The Reds got a little bit of a two-out rally when Lux hit a line-drive single to center and Espinal reached on an infield single, but Uribe got Austin Wynns on a groundout to end the inning. Old friend Brent Suter was on in the bottom of the seventh, and he worked a very quick 1-2-3 inning.

Milwaukee went to Bryan Hudson for the top of the eighth, and the Reds finally ended their scoreless inning streak. Friedl led off with a solid single, and Steer reached on a fielding error by Dunn. Hudson was able to retire De La Cruz on a fly ball that advanced both runners, and the Brewers opted to bring in Joel Payamps at that point. Encarnacion-Strand hit a fly ball to the warning track, but the ballpark held it. Still, it was plenty deep for Friedl to tag from third and make it 3-1. With two outs, Candelario hit a hot shot down the first base line; Hoskins might have had a play on it, but it hit first base and got past him. Candelario ended up with a double, and Steer scored to make it 3-2. Payamps was able to retire Jake Fraley on a groundout, though, to keep the Brewer lead intact heading into the bottom of the eighth.

The top of Milwaukee’s order was unable to muster any insurance, as a two-out walk by William Contreras was all they could get. That set Trevor Megill up for his first save opportunity of the season.

He struck out Lux to start the season, but Espinal reached with one out as Ortiz came up just short of making a spectacular diving catch with his back to the infield on a weak pop fly that was hit to the right spot. The Reds opted to bring Matt McLain, who came in with three homers on the young season, off the bench as a pinch hitter. McLain smoked a 2-2 fastball to deep center, but it didn’t quite have the launch angle, and Mitchell caught it on the warning track for the second out. Friedl got ahead in the count but flew out to left on a 2-1 pitch, and while it wasn’t a relaxing inning, Megill had his first save, and the Brewers had their fourth straight win.

Alexander was the big story tonight, as he turned in one of the best outings of his seven-year career when the Brewers really weren’t expecting all that much from him. Mitchell had a nice night with two hits and an RBI, and Turang’s two-run homer was ultimately the difference. The Brewers are fortunate that they have been able to grind these games out as the meat of their order continues to struggle: after an 0-for-4 for Yelich and an 0-for-3 with a walk from Contreras, their batting averages fell to .083 and .074, respectively. The bullpen wasn’t perfect, but they got the job done.

After the extremely rough start to the season, four in a row feels nice, and the Brewers get a clean slate on their record from here on out. They’ll look to keep it rolling with a second straight series victory when they face Cincinnati in the third of four tomorrow night, when the Reds’ Brady Singer will face off against Elvin Rodriguez at 6:10 p.m.