By Hal McCoy
When it comes to Milwaukee versus Cincinnati in baseball games, it is Texas vs. Rhode Island, wine vs. castor oil and Cadillac vs. Volkswagen.
It’s nearly always Milwaukee as the bully on the beach, no matter what.
On Monday night in Great American Ball Park, the Reds received seven shutout innings from starting pitcher Brady Singer.
And they lost in 10 innings, 2-1.
Relief pitcher Tony Santillan didn’t give up a hit in the 10th inning, but the Brewers scored two runs.
And they won in 10 innings, 2-1.
The Brewers had only three hits the entire game.
And they won in 10 innings, 2-1.
So the Brewers, who always hold a dangling chandelier over the Reds’ heads, have won 30 of the last 48 games against the Reds.
Stretching it out farther, they’ve beaten the Reds 90 times in their last 145 meetings.
Why did the Reds fall short Monday?
They couldn’t hit a pitcher who hadn’t taken the mound since late April.
Brandon Woodruff retired the first 16 Reds in order — no base runners through 5 1/3 innings.
Tyler Stephenson lined a one-out single in the sixth and that was it, no more runners on base until they got the freebie ghost runner on in the 10th.
Singer nearly match Woodruff with seven scoreless innings. He gave up only two hits and two walks.
So it was 0-0 entering extra innings. Milwaukee’s ghost runner was Jake Bauers. Santillan walked Garrett Mitchell on a full count, putting runners on second and first with no outs.
Sal Frelich bunted the runners to third and second and Joey Ortiz drove in Bauers with a sacrifice fly to righrt and it was 1-0.
Mitchell moved to third on the sacrifice fly and scored on Santillan’s wild pitch. . .a big, big run
that made it 2-0.
Blake Dunn was Cincinnati’s ghost runner in the bottom of the 10th. He moved to third on JJ Bleday’s ground ball and scored on Sal Stewart’s ground ball.
But it was 2-1 with two outs and nobody on base. Dane Myers raised Cincinnati hopes by lining a single off pitcher Joel Kuhnel’s glove, putting the tying run on base.
But big-time struggler Spencer Steer grounded out to third on the first pitch and the agony for the Reds was over.
“If you only give up one run in extra innings, you get (the tying run) on second,” said Reds manager Tito Francona. “The breaking ball that got away (Santillan’s wild pitch), that changed the game alot.”
Indeed, instead of needing just one run to tie with a runner on second and no outs, the Reds had a runner on second and no outs, but needed two runs to tie.
“I thought our guys pitched terrific and when they pitch like that, it’s easier to say the glass is half full,” said Francona.
After Singer’s seven innings, the farthest he has gone this season, Sam Moll pitched a 1-2-3 eighth with two strikeouts, then Tejay Antone and Brock Burke combined for a no runs and one hit ninth inning.
It was a bit of a surprise to see Santillan walk to the mound for the 10th He pitched two innings to save Sunday’s 4-1 win over the New York Yankees.
“He only threw 16 pitches (Sunday),” said Francona. “I grilled him pretty good. When Tony’s good, he can pitch. And he wants to ptich. . .and again, we don’t want to hurt anybody. He has the ability and is one of the better ones in that regard.”
Francona permitted Singer to go out for the seventh for the first time this season and watched closely as he threw 106 pitches.
Singer’s only trouble was in the second when he walked the first two and went to 3-and-0 on Garrett Mitchell. But he battled back and struck him out and retired the next two on ground balls.
“I kinda lost the feel in the second,” said Singer. “I was a little out of whack. I just locked back in and tried to keep that inning from unraveling.”
From there he retired 17 of the last 19 Brewers he faced.
Brice Turner got Milwaukee’s first hit, a high hop double over first baseman Sal Stewart’s glove, leading off the fourth. But Singer got two fly balls and a pop up.
The second Milwaukee hit was an infield roller to second with two outs in the seventh and nothing came of it.
“Stevo (catcher Tyler Stephenson) was incredible,” said Singer. “He’s faced these guys alot and had a good game plan. I followed him all night and was able to hit the spots that he called. The sinker was working well and I was able to spin it under them.”
As good as Singer was, he wasn’t as good as Woodruff, who spent nearly two months on the injured list with shoulder inflammation.
“His fastball definitely plays up,” said Franonca after watching his hitters swing and miss high fastball all night. “And he elevated and got it past our barrels pretty consistenly.
“And he had that little breaking ball and change-up and located very, very well,” he added. “He is a good pitcher, but he hadn’t been locating during his rehab starts. But he certainly did tonight.
“I wish we had been up, 10-0, but that’s a fun game to be part of,” said Francona.
But it wasn’t a good start for the Reds to make headway in the National League Central standings. With seven games against the Brewers over the next week-and-a-half, the Reds hoped to cut into their deficit, which is now 10 1/2 games behind the division-leading Brewers.
But playing the Brewers is about as much fun as three hours in a torture chamber.