The Cincinnati Reds will be out to avoid a major league record when they face the host Milwaukee Brewers on Friday in the second contest of the four-game series.
The Reds suffered their third consecutive 1-0 loss in the series opener on Thursday. The Reds are the first team to lose three consecutive games with a 1-0 score since the Philadelphia Phillies in May 1960. No major league team has lost four consecutive 1-0 decisions.
“Nobody’s happy with what’s happened the last three games,” Cincinnati manager Terry Francona said. “We’ll figure it out together. I feel strongly about that.”
Right-hander Nick Martinez (0-1, 6.00 ERA) starts for the Reds on Friday, while the Brewers have yet to name a starter.
Milwaukee won the series opener behind Nestor Cortes, who bounced back from a historically bad start with six innings of one-hit ball. Three relievers followed with a scoreless inning apiece to finish the two-hitter.
In his first start as a Brewer, Cortes became the first pitcher in major league history to allow home runs to three batters on his first three pitches in a 20-9 road loss to the New York Yankees.
Milwaukee has won three straight games after opening the season with four losses.
“We’re not on all cylinders, by any stretch of the imagination,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “We’ve got great hitters, All-Star players that aren’t in their mid-season form. They’ll get there.”
Brice Turang has hit safely in all seven games, matching his career-high hitting streak. After striking out all five times in the season opener, Jackson Chourio has hit safely in six straight games, including 6-for-17 on the current homestand.
The Reds, hitting just .197 as a team, have not scored in 28 consecutive innings and are 0-for-13 with runners in scoring position over the last three games. They were 0-for-6 in the series opener.
“They’re trying their (expletive) off, maybe too hard,” Francona said. “They’re fighting. We’re not going to have a situation where it’s us when we win, and they when we lose. We’ll do this together.”
In his first start, Martinez allowed four runs on four hits — including two homers — in six innings in a 6-3 loss to San Francisco. He struck out five and walked one in an 83-pitch outing.
“I felt good pretty much all day. Good until it wasn’t,” Martinez said. “I didn’t execute my pitch to (Matt) Chapman, and he capitalized. I was trying to execute a fastball up and in and didn’t get it there. Left it thigh-high right where he likes it, and he punished it.”
Martinez is 0-0 in eight career appearances, including four starts versus Milwaukee. He faced the Brewers four times last season with two starts after two relief outings. He allowed four runs in 12 1/3 innings in those two starts.
Milwaukee is 38-14 against the Reds over the last 52 games, including 10-4 since the start of last season.
–Field Level Media
