Game Thread #8: Milwaukee Brewers (3-4) vs. Cincinnati Reds (2-5)

Brewers aim to get back to .500

After a narrow 1-0 victory in the first game of the series, the Brewers and Reds go into the second of a four-game set as the Brewers, after an atrocious start to the season, look to get back to an even record at 4-4. The Reds, meanwhile, are flirting with some dubious history.

First, the Reds. They lost 1-0 last night for the third consecutive night, which equaled a major league record; no team has ever lost four games in a row by that score. But that’s not the only historical note about their offensive shortcomings over the last few games: only 14 teams have ever been shut out in four consecutive games, and none have reached five.

On paper, the Reds should expect to get into the scoring column tonight as the Brewers will start Tyler Alexander, who has been serviceable in two appearances this season but will hardly have any of Cincinnati’s hitters shaking in fear. Alexander threw a scoreless inning on Opening Day and then pitched two scoreless innings on March 30 before some tough luck put a couple of runs on his line in his third inning of work. Today will be his first start as a Brewer, but more than one-third of his 145 major league appearances have been starts, as this will be the 53rd of his career.

On the other side will be Nick Martinez, the 34-year-old right-hander. Martinez started at home on March 30 against the San Francisco Giants and allowed four runs in six innings in his only appearance so far this season, but he had an excellent 2024 season in which he had a 3.10 ERA (147 ERA+) and 3.21 FIP as a swingman who had 42 total appearances and 16 starts that covered 142 ¹⁄₃ innings.

Despite their three-game winning streak, the Milwaukee offense hasn’t exactly looked in top form. As they look for more runs tonight, there are no surprises in the lineup with the righty on the hill, as all of the regulars are in there along with the left-handed side of their third base platoon, Oliver Dunn. Christian Yelich is the designated hitter, with a Chourio-Mitchell-Frelick alignment in the outfield.

First pitch is at 7:10 p.m. on FanDuel Sports Network Wisconsin and the Brewers Radio Network.