CINCINNATI (AP) — A rain delay changed Freddy Peralta's plan to pitch deeper into Thursday's game. The Milwaukee Brewers' bullpen seamlessly finished what he started.
Peralta was rolling along through four innings and planning to pitch the fifth before the 37-minute delay. He had given up just two hits, one of them a Joey Votto homer in the second inning, but Brewers manager Craig Counsell decided not to get the right-hander up and warm warm again after the rain.
Four relievers kept Cincinnati in check, and Milwaukee cruised to a 7-2 win to take two of three from the Reds in the series. Brent Suter (7-3) allowed one run over two innings, and Brad Boxberger, Hoby Milner and Trevor Richards each threw a scoreless frame, with Richards striking out the Reds in order in the ninth.
“As soon as we got the delay and we knew it going to be more than 30 minutes, they told me I was done for the day," Peralta said. “I wanted to stay in the game and throw the fifth and sixth innings, but it is what it is.”
Jace Peterson drove in three runs, and Daniel Vogelbach hit a two-run homer as the Brewers won for the 11th time in 13 games.
Peterson, promoted from Triple-A Nashville at the start of the series, blooped a tiebreaking, two-run single in a three-run sixth and added an RBI double in the eighth.
Vogelbach homered in the seventh, his sixth this season and second in as many days.
“I was able to get some pitches today that I was able to to put a good swing on, get some extra-base hits,” said Vogelbach, who also walked and scored in the sixth inning and doubled in the ninth.
Luis Castillo (2-9) gave up one hit in 5 2/3 innings and struck out seven. He left with a 2-1 lead after walking two batters in the sixth. Lucas Sims gave up Willy Adames' run-scoring double and Peterson's single.
“I really had a good outing," said Castillo, who has struggled mightily this season. "I was battling all day. Even with the break in the game, I was able to focus.”
Votto tied the score 1-1 with a 400-foot homer leading off the second, his first long ball since he was activated Tuesday after missing a month because of a broken thumb.
Jesse Winker had an RBI single in the fifth. Nick Castellanos had two hits, raising his major league-leading batting average to .357.
BULLPEN WOES
The Reds bullpen, whose 5.81 ERA is the worst in the majors, had another tough day. Although the Brewers' two sixth-inning runs were charged to Castillo, it was Sims who surrendered RBI hits to his first two batters. He lasted just one-third of an inning. Sean Doolittle gave up another two runs, and Art Warren gave up another before Ashton Goudeau managed a scoreless ninth.
TRAINERS ROOM
Brewers: 3B Travis Shaw was put on the 10-day injured list after dislocating his left shoulder diving for a ground ball in the second inning Wednesday night. Luis Urías moved from second base to third for Thursday's game, and Peterson was installed at second. RHP Patrick Weigel was recalled from Triple-A Nashville to take Shaw's roster spot.
Reds: Manager David Bell said INF Mike Moustakas is running on his sore heel but a timetable for his return hasn't been set.
UP NEXT
Brewers: RHP Brandon Woodruff (4-2) is expected to start the first game of a weekend set against the last-place Pirates in Pittsburgh on Friday night. RHP Chase De Jong (0-0) is set to go for the Pirates.
Reds: RHP Tyler Mahle (5-2) will be on the mound Friday as the Reds start a weekend series against LHP Kyle Freeland and visiting Colorado. Mahle is 3-0 with a 1.04 ERA in his last three starts.
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