Reds-Brewers Preview
While John Lamb hopes to shake the Cincinnati Reds out of their recent funk, the Milwaukee Brewers' Zach Davies is out to secure his first career win at Miller Park. Lamb's first victory of the season would end baseball's longest current losing streak while denying Davies his elusive win on Friday night. Cincinnati (15-32) opens this three-game series with losses in its last 10 games, three shy of its skid to end last season. The Reds' last winning streak came with victories in the first two games of a series against Milwaukee (21-26) from May 5-8. The Brewers took the final two games of that set, starting Cincinnati's current 2-15 stretch. Lamb started the finale of that series, but he was forced to leave with a sprained left thumb in the fifth inning of a 5-4 loss. He finished allowing two hits and a run - off a Ryan Braun homer - in four innings. Lamb's return from his injury left much to be desired as he surrendered 10 hits and seven runs in four innings of a 15-6 loss at Cleveland on May 16. He picked up the slack on Saturday, logging a quality start in a 4-0 loss to Seattle. Lamb (0-2, 5.40 ERA), though, still was unable to lead Cincinnati to a win for the fourth time in his four starts, giving up six hits and four runs in six innings - the big hits a pair of Mariners home runs. The left-hander also took a scare when Nelson Cruz lined a fourth-inning pitch off his upper left arm. Lamb took a warmup pitch and stayed in the game. "Now I know how it feels to get drilled by (Aroldis) Chapman on his best day or Nolan Ryan or some of those old timers that you hear threw pretty damn hard," he told MLB's official website. "It stung, it stung. I'm fine. I don't see it affecting anything moving forward." Lamb has a 5.17 ERA in three career starts against the Brewers, and Braun is 4 for 6 with a pair of home runs, a double and two walks. While Lamb hopes to shake the Reds out of their funk, Davies (1-3, 5.75) is chasing his first career win at Miller Park. The second-year Milwaukee pitcher is 0-3 with a 5.08 ERA in six career starts at home, and he has a 4.63 mark in four 2016 outings there. The right-hander took a no-decision from Saturday's 5-4 loss on the road against the New York Mets, giving up five hits and four runs in 5 1/3 innings. He struck out five, but the two big blows were a Curtis Granderson leadoff home run and Yoenis Cespedes' two-run shot in the sixth - starting and ending Davies' night. Between the two homers, Davies pitched well, surrendering only one other run on three hits. "The game is frustrating that way," Davies told MLB's official website. "Overall, I was happy with what I was doing in the game." Cincinnati's Jay Bruce homered off Davies in his only career start against the Reds on Sept. 18. Davies gave up five hits and three runs in six innings while walking and striking out four. After a fast start, Bruce has two hits in his last 22 at-bats. His triple drove in the Reds' only run in Wednesday's 3-1 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers. |