Cincinnati Reds rally after Hunter Strickland blown save to take series from Brewers

MILWAUKEE – A big focus for the final two months of the Cincinnati Reds season will be the development of young players, especially after they traded five players from their roster, but it was the veterans who stepped up Sunday.

The 34-year-old Donovan Solano delivered a go-ahead RBI double with two outs in the eighth inning, and he added a sacrifice fly in the 10th inning. The 36-year-old Ross Detwiler pitched a clean bottom of the 10th inning to earn his first save since 2014 in the Reds' 4-2 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers at American Family Field.

The Reds took two of three games from the division-contending Brewers and own a 6-1-1 record in their last eight series, winning 16 of their last 25 games.

"It was a big series win for us," Detwiler said. "We’ve been playing really well the second half. We want to keep that rolling for sure. I don’t think I’m going to hang my hat on being a closer. I don’t think anybody is coming along at 36 and started closing games."

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The Reds recovered after closer Hunter Strickland blew his fourth save in 11 opportunities, surrendering a solo homer to Keston Hiura to lead off the bottom of the ninth inning.

Strickland has allowed eight hits and seven runs in his last five appearances with as many strikeouts (two) as homers allowed.

"We're going to need Strick," said Reds Manager David Bell, who used four relievers in front of Strickland to reach the ninth inning with a one-run lead. "He's a big part of our bullpen in a lot of different ways. We'll look for different ways to help get him through it but ultimately, it's going to be him. He's done it for a long time, so he's going to find ways to get through this. Depending on the situation and the inning and all that, we'll find ways."

Since May 7, after the Reds started the season with a 3-22 record, they have the second-best record in the National League Central. They’re 41-41 in their last 82 games, three games behind the St. Louis Cardinals in that span (44-38) and 1 ½ games ahead of the Brewers (39-42).

No team celebrates a .500 record or a spot at the bottom of the season standings, but the Reds found ways to rebound from the worst start through 25 games in franchise history.

"At the end of the day you just have to accept what's going on," Reds starting pitcher Graham Ashcraft said. "We're going to go out there and grind every day and try to play the best that we can. All we can ask is that everybody gives everything they've got and that's what we're doing right now. It's going to be a fun second half."

Ashcraft wasn't particularly sharp on a muggy day with the American Family Field roof closed – "Four jerseys, two pants today," he said – but he matched Brewers ace Corbin Burnes all afternoon. He threw a first-pitch strike to 11 of his 23 batters and his velocity was down by a little more than 1 mph.

None of that stopped him from holding the Brewers to one run over 5 2/3 innings in front of the crowd of 40,063. He gave up four hits and two walks while striking out three.

"It was a bit of a struggle trying to figure out everything," Ashcraft said. "Everything was out of whack. It was a grind today, that was for sure."

Ashcraft did not enter the season with the same level of hype as fellow rookie starting pitchers Hunter Greene and Nick Lodolo, and there were questions about whether Ashcraft should shift to the bullpen because of the effort in his delivery, but he’s constantly proven himself. He’s posted a 3.94 ERA through 14 starts.

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In the last three turns of the rotation, eight total outings, Reds rookie starters have combined for a 1.81 ERA with 46 strikeouts in 49 2/3 innings. The Reds will be without Greene for at least a couple of weeks after he was placed on the 15-day injured list with a right shoulder strain, but it’s encouraging when they’re flashing dominance while nearing career highs in innings pitched.

Ashcraft is up to 112 2/3 innings between Triple-A and the Majors after totaling 111 innings last year.

Burnes, who entered with the third-lowest ERA in the National League (2.49), lived up to his billing. He permitted two hits across six innings, and one of them was immediately erased when Nick Senzel was thrown out at third base trying to stretch a double into a triple to end the fourth inning.

The other hit, the one that did damage, came from an unlikely source.

Catcher Michael Papierski lined a game-tying homer down the right-field line in the fifth inning. It was Paperski’s first career homer, coming against last year’s National League Cy Young winner, and it snapped a streak where he was hitless in 16 consecutive at-bats.

"It was a curveball," Papierski said. "It was awesome."

Not only was it Papierski’s first homer in the Majors, but it was his first extra-base hit. Teammates gave Papierski the silent treatment in the dugout. After high-fiving Bell and bench coach Freddie Benavides, Papierski mimicked fist bumps as he walked alone through the dugout. Once he sat on the bench, teammates rushed over to congratulate him.

"I missed the memo about the silent treatment," Bell said, "but it's really because of how well-liked he is."

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Reds beat Brewers after Hunter Strickland blown save