MILWAUKEE (AP) - Dan Straily kept up his domination of the Milwaukee Brewers this season.
Straily pitched into the seventh inning and Joey Votto hit a two-run homer to lift the Cincinnati Reds to a 6-1 victory over the Brewers on Saturday night.
Straily (14-8) allowed just one run on five hits with five strikeouts over 6 2/3 innings. The right-hander is 3-0 with a 1.67 ERA in four starts against Milwaukee in 2016.
“It was good,” Reds manager Bryan Price said. “A lot of contributors. Certainly it was a good start by Straily. Joey hits the two-run homer in the first to give us a cushion.”
Votto’s 26th home run gave Cincinnati a 2-0 lead in the first inning against Brewers starter Taylor Jungmann (0-5).
The Brewers’ lone run came on Domingo Santana’s homer in the second.
“He’s been tough against us,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. “I give him a lot of credit, he’s pitching well. He’s very locked in to what he’s doing. We haven’t figured him out.”
Scott Schebler had three hits for the Reds, while Votto and Adam Duvall each drove in two runs.
Straily left with two on, two outs and a 4-1 lead in the seventh, but reliever Michael Lorenzen struck out pinch-hitter Hernan Perez to end the threat.
Lorenzen stayed on to work a scoreless eighth before giving way to Raisel Iglesias for the ninth.
“I’ve been preaching it since day one, I want to go as deep as I can and keep us in the game,” Straily said. “Each night dictates how late that is because each night is different.”
Cincinnati added insurance runs on an RBI infield single by Eugenio Suarez in the sixth and a run-scoring groundout by Duvall in the seventh.
“It was the third run that gave us a little more cushion,” Price said. “Then we got the squibber that drove in the fourth run with the bases loaded.”
The Reds broke the game open with two runs in ninth off Michael Blazek, who was pitching for the first time since Aug. 13 due to an elbow injury.
Jungmann settled down after allowing Votto’s home run, giving up just those two runs on three hits and four walks over four innings in his first start in the big leagues since April 28.
“I pride myself in battling through outings like that,” Jungmann said. “It was an outing where I had a non-existent curveball. I felt OK. I was a little rusty. A loss is a loss, so I take it for what it is.”
FARM HONORS
In a pregame ceremony Saturday, Milwaukee honored INF Isan Diaz as its minor league player of the year and RHP Brandon Woodruff as its minor league pitcher of the year.
TAKING THE LEAD
Brewers SS Jonathan Villar stole his 59th base, passing Reds OF Billy Hamilton for the league lead. With Hamilton out for the rest of the year due to a strained left oblique, Villar should finish as baseball’s stolen base leader, as he leads Pirates OF Starling Marte by 12 steals.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Reds: After being scratched from the lineup Friday due to a sore left wrist, OF Tyler Holt was available to play off the bench Saturday.
Brewers: OF Kirk Nieuwenhuis (strained abdomen) is expected to ramp up baseball activities in the coming days, according to manager Craig Counsell. Nieuwenhuis hopes to be able to play on Milwaukee’s final road trip of the season.
UP NEXT
Reds: LHP Brandon Finnegan (9-11, 4.10 ERA) will make his 30th start of the season Sunday against Milwaukee. He is 2-0 with a 1.77 ERA in three starts against the Brewers this year.
Brewers: RHP Wily Peralta (7-10, 5.21 ERA) will start the series finale. He has gone 3-3 with a 3.26 ERA in eight starts since being rejoining Milwaukee’s rotation on Aug. 9.
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