MILWAUKEE � It was the Cincinnati Reds, not the Milwaukee Brewers, who entered this series with the worst earned run average for a starting rotation in the National League.
You'd never know it after the first two games of the series.
On the heels of a 7-4 victory in the series opener, the last-place Reds took apart the Brewers, 11-5, Saturday night at Miller Park, blowing open the game with an eight-run outburst in the sixth inning.
The Reds turned a 1-0 lead into a blowout with the huge inning off starter Zach Davies and reliever Michael Blazek. Davies did not retire any of the four batters he faced, allowing three singles, a run-scoring wild pitch and a walk before exiting.
Eugenio Suarez greeted Blazek with a long three-run homer to left and the inning only got uglier. The Brewers committed two errors on the same bunt play by Reds pitcher Dan Straily and Cincinnati went on to pad its lead on a RBI single by Zack Cozart, run-scoring double by Joey Votto (his second hit of the inning) and sacrifice fly by Adam Duvall.
Blazek didn't get a ton of help from his defense but he hasn't been the same pitcher since allowing five runs in two-thirds of an inning to the Reds on May 28 and going on the disabled list afterward with an ailing elbow. Including that game, he has allowed 19 earned runs in 17 innings over 16 outings, ballooning his ERA from 2.31 to 5.58.
Davies entered the game on an extended period of excellence, going 9-1 with a 2.92 earned run average over his previous 17 outings. But this would not be a night to remember for Davies, who was tagged for eight hits and five runs in five-plus innings.
It was not a good night on the replay front for the Brewers, either. After Jonathan Villar led off the bottom of the first with a single and stole second, he was called out attempting to steal third. The Brewers challenged the call and lost, losing their challenge very early in the game.
With two outs in the fourth, Hernan Perez boomed a double to deep right-center that scored Scooter Gennett from first base, or so home plate umpire Todd Tichenor thought. The Reds challenged the call and Gennett was ruled out on replay, preventing them from tying the score.
Davies was able to work around leadoff singles in the first and second innings but did not get away with surrendering a one-out triple to speedy Billy Hamilton in the third. Hamilton held the bag as Zack Cozart grounded out to third but trotted home when Joey Votto slapped a 2-0 changeup into left field for a single.
With two down in the top of the fourth, Davies got some help from centerfielder Keon Broxton. Tucker Barnhart sent a deep drive that Broxton ran down with a leaping catch just before slamming into the padded wall.
Down, 1-0, the Brewers let the game slip away from them completely in the eight-run sixth inning by the Reds. Cincinnati sent 12 men to the plate during the outburst.
Straily took a 9-0 lead into the bottom of the inning but allowed hits to four of the five hitters he faced and exited. Ryan Braun started that streak of hits with a one-out homer to center, his 20th of the season.
The Brewers pushed across two runs that inning but missed a chance for a bigger outburst when reliever Jumbo Diaz struck out pinch-hitter Ramon Flores on a high 3-2 fastball with the bases loaded.
Martin Maldonado socked a two-run homer to center in the Brewers eighth to make it an 11-4 game.
