MILWAUKEE _ The Milwaukee Brewers, who played better at Miller Park than expected and in 2016 in general, closed their home season with a whimper.
Much like the previous evening, the Brewers generated little offense in bowing meekly to Cincinnati, 4-2, before a disappointed crowd of 31,776.
The Brewers dropped the last two games of the series against the Reds to finish the home season with a 41-40 home record. They now go to Texas and Colorado to finish their rebuilding season.
In what could have been the final home game with the Brewers for Ryan Braun _ they've already tried once this year to trade him to the Los Angeles Dodgers _ he went 2-for-4 with a triple and single. As he stepped to the plate in the eighth inning and received a big hand from the crowd, Braun gave a symbolic tip of the cap with a motion toward his batting helmet.
The Reds wasted no time jumping on Brewers starter Wily Peralta in the first inning. With one down, Scott Schebler lined a double to left and Peralta pitched around white-hot Joey Votto, walking him.
Adam Duvall blasted a double off the wall in left, scoring Schebler, and Votto scored on Brandon Phillips' grounder to short for a quick 2-0 lead.
Cincinnati padded its lead to 3-0 in the third with an assist from the Brewers. Jose Pereza led off with a walk, advanced to third on a wild pickoff attempt by catcher Martin Maldonado and scored on a single by Schebler to center.
The Brewers had very few scoring opportunities in the early going against Reds lefty Brandon Finnegan. Ryan Braun tripled with two down in the first inning but Chris Carter fouled out and that was that.
Hernan Perez led off the bottom of the second with a single and stole second base but Martin Maldonado popped out and Yadiel Rivera grounded out.
Peralta exited after six innings, having allowed five hits and three runs (two earned) with three walks and five strikeouts. Finnegan was gone after five shutout innings, surrendering only three hits with no walks and four strikeouts.
Jhan Marinez took over for the Brewers in the seventh and the Reds added a run to boost their lead to 4-0. Eugenio Suarez singled, was bunted to second by Tony Renda and scored on a two-out single to right by pinch-hitter Steve Selsky.
The Brewers finally broke through for a couple of runs in the seventh against reliever Jumbo Diaz. It started with singles by Perez and Arcia, sandwiched around a wild pitch, putting runners on the corners with no outs.
When Arcia stole second and catcher Ramon Cabrera's throw sailed into center field, Perez scored and Arcia scooted to third. With one down, pinch-hitter Scooter Gennett's grounder to short delivered Arcia to cut it to 4-2.
