Garrett Mitchell’s four-RBI night carries Brewers past Reds in 13-9 slugfest

The first inning set the scale

The Brewers announced the kind of night this would be before Cincinnati had room to settle in. Brice Turang opened Milwaukee’s scoring with a two-run homer to center, then Mitchell followed later in the inning with a two-run shot to right-center. A 4-0 lead after one inning did not decide the game, but it established the terms: Milwaukee was going to make Cincinnati’s pitchers survive traffic and damage at the same time.

The Reds did not disappear after that. Eugenio Suarez put Cincinnati on the board with a solo homer in the second, and Elly De La Cruz added an RBI double in the third to trim the margin to 4-2. Milwaukee still found a way to answer in that same third inning when Cooper Pratt singled home Mitchell, then took second on Dane Myers’ throwing error from center. In a game that eventually came down to which team made the cleaner set of mistakes, that extra base fit the pattern.

A tie that barely lasted

Cincinnati’s best stretch came in the fourth. JJ Bleday doubled home Suarez, and Juan Brito followed with a two-run homer to left-center that pulled the Reds level at 5-5. For a moment, the game looked ready to turn into a pure exchange of offense, and the Reds had done real work to erase Milwaukee’s fast start.

The tie lasted only until the bottom half. With Jake Bauers and Christian Yelich already aboard, William Contreras drove a three-run homer to left-center and restored Milwaukee’s cushion at 8-5. Then came the inning that truly separated the clubs. In the fifth, Bauers singled in Jackson Chourio and Pratt, Yelich lined a run-scoring single to center, and Mitchell doubled to right to bring home Bauers and Yelich for a 13-5 lead. The line on Cincinnati’s staff tells the story bluntly: Brady Singer needed 95 pitches to get through 4.0 innings, and Graham Ashcraft was tagged for six hits and five runs while recording only one out.

Mitchell at the center of Milwaukee’s best work

Mitchell was the clearest difference-maker, finishing 4-for-5 with four RBIs, two runs scored, a home run and a double. But Milwaukee’s lineup worked more like a chain than a solo act. Turang reached twice and drove in two. Contreras scored twice, walked twice and supplied the pivotal three-run homer. Pratt went 3-for-5 and figured in the third-inning insurance run. Yelich scored twice and added an RBI. Even in a 13-run game, those details matter, because Milwaukee did not win by one superstar masking a quiet offense; it won because several hitters kept handing the next one something useful.

Cincinnati, to its credit, hit well enough to make this uncomfortable. Suarez went 3-for-4 with three runs and a homer. Brito finished 3-for-4 with three RBIs, including the game-tying shot in the fourth. Bleday scored twice and drove in another run, and De La Cruz chipped in two hits with an RBI double. The Reds also forced Milwaukee to cover 9.0 innings with seven pitchers, and Chad Patrick’s 1.1 scoreless innings with four strikeouts stands out as a stabilizing patch in the middle. Still, Milwaukee paired its offense with three double plays on defense, and those extra outs helped keep Cincinnati from turning a good hitting night into a winning one.

The late rally kept it honest

The Reds made the final score more respectable in the eighth. A passed ball by Contreras allowed Sal Stewart to score and sent Will Banfield to third. Suarez then singled Banfield home, Brito added another RBI single, and Ke'Bryan Hayes grounded into a double play that still brought in Bleday. That cut the margin to 13-9 and put an untidy frame on Milwaukee’s otherwise commanding night. Kyle Harrison was charged with four runs without recording an out, a reminder that even after the Brewers built a massive lead, the game never became especially neat. Aaron Ashby and Abner Uribe handled the final two innings without allowing another run, which was enough to make sure the late wobble stayed only that.

Our take: this was one of those baseball results that says two things at once. Cincinnati’s offense was plenty real; 14 hits and nine runs will win a lot of games. But the Reds made the pitching task too hard by allowing 14 hits, six walks and three home runs, and the biggest damage came in concentrated waves of four, three and five runs. If there is an obvious place to tighten up, it starts with reducing the free baserunners and avoiding the sort of defensive giveaway that turned Pratt’s RBI single into an extra base. For Milwaukee, the lesson is different. The bats were excellent, but a 13-5 lead still turned into a four-run finish because of a passed ball and a rough eighth inning from the bullpen. On a night when both teams had 14 hits, the Brewers won by stacking their best swings together and surviving their sloppy moments a little better.

Scoring moments

1. 1st Inning

   Turang homered to center (400 feet), Chourio scored.

2. 1st Inning

   Mitchell homered to right center (425 feet), Contreras scored.

3. 2nd Inning

   Suárez homered to left center (402 feet).

4. 3rd Inning

   De La Cruz doubled to left, Myers scored.

5. 3rd Inning

   Pratt singled to center, Mitchell scored, Pratt safe at second on throwing error by center fielder Myers.

6. 4th Inning

   Bleday doubled to center, Suárez scored.

7. 4th Inning

   Brito homered to left center (409 feet), Bleday scored.

8. 4th Inning

   Contreras homered to left center (381 feet), Bauers scored and Yelich scored.

9. 5th Inning

   Bauers singled to left, Chourio scored and Pratt scored, Turang to third.

10. 5th Inning

    Yelich singled to center, Turang scored, Yelich to second, Bauers to third.

11. 5th Inning

    Mitchell doubled to right, Bauers scored and Yelich scored, Contreras to third.

12. 8th Inning

    Stewart scored on a passed ball by Contreras, Banfield to third on passed ball by Contreras.

13. 8th Inning

    Stewart scored on a passed ball by Contreras, Banfield to third on passed ball by Contreras.

14. 8th Inning

    Suárez singled to right, Banfield scored.

15. 8th Inning

    Brito singled to center, Suárez scored, Bleday to second.

16. 8th Inning

    Hayes grounded into double play, third to second to first, Bleday scored, Rodríguez out at second, Brito to third.