As if Reds pitcher Nick Lodolo needs five runs. He stifled the powerful Brewers en route to a 8-2 victory.
Lodolo, a rookie left-hander, has been, by far, the best Reds pitcher the second half of the season and Friday night was his best.
He held the Brewers to two runs and five hits with no walks and a career-best 11 strikeouts over eight innings. He retired the last nine Brewers he faced and didn’t give up a hit after the fourth inning.
His only hiccup was in the third inning when he gave up a leadoff single to Luis Urias and number nine hitter Tyrone Taylor nearly put a hole in the center field scoreboard with a 435-foot home run.
Other than that, the Brew Crew was Lodolo stew.
What Lodolo did was needed, because the Reds resembled the 1962 New York Mets (120 losses) or, OK, the 1982 Cincinnati Reds 101 losses) from the second through the eighth.
They scored no more until the ninth, but handed a damaging loss to the Brewers, who entered the game 2 1/2 games out of a National League wild-card spot.
It was a frenetic first inning for the Reds. It began with leadoff hitter T.J. Friedl lofting an 0-and-2 pitch over the right-field wall, his fifth home run in the last 10 games.
Jonathan India tripled into the right-field corner and scored on Kyle Farmer’s single. Jake Fraley was hit by a pitch and Donovan Solano singled to make it 3-0.
Austin Romine walked and Alexnder finally got outs, a double play on Nick Senzel on which the fourth run scored. Jose Barrero picked on an 0-and-2 pitch and singled to right to make it 5-0.
From there, the Reds played strand baserunners. They stranded six from the second through the eighth.
The Reds finally broke through for more runs in the ninth, three against Cincinnati native Brent Suter. Friedl singled and India launched a 433 missile over the left-center wall and Jake Fraley followed with a home run to put the game in Lodolo’s pocket, 8-2.
Aquino produced three doubles and a walk, Farmer had three hits, Friedl two, Fraley two, Solano two and Barrero two.
The Reds had 17 hits with everybody in the order collecting hits but Senzel (0 for 5 and a 2-for-18 slide.
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