Santiago Espinal drove in Rece Hinds with an infield single in the 11th inning, and the Cincinnati Reds ended Milwaukee’s five-game win streak with a 4-3 win over the Brewers on Sunday.
Hinds started the inning on second base as the designated runner. He moved up on Will Benson’s groundout, and Reds manager David Bell chose Espinal to bat in place of Noelvi Marte.
Bell said, “In that situation, it has nothing to do with Noelvi not hitting. Espy and his skill set in that spot is exactly what you need. He puts the ball in play. It started with a great job by Will Benson. He had a chance to drive him (or) at the very least get him over.”
Espinal hit a grounder up the middle that deflected off reliever Bryse Wilson (5-4), allowing Hinds to score without a throw. Wilson pitched 3 2/3 innings, his longest outing since July 24.
Wilson said, “The outcome sucks. I was happy with everything I did. Just move on, have a game tomorrow.”
Milwaukee went 0 for 21 in the last six innings and had only four baserunners, including two designated runners in the 10th and 11th.
Brewers manager Pat Murphy said, “Can’t really shut it down like that. There were a couple really hard contacts in there. It was hard to watch those 21 at-bats. It’s disappointing in so many ways. Just need to concentrate on what we could have done better today.”
Cincinnati had lost eight of their last 10 games. Alexis Díaz (2-5) got three outs for the win after allowing seven runs, six earned, and seven hits in 4 1/3 innings over his last six appearances.
In the top of the 10th inning, designated runner Andruw Monasterio was thrown out by Jonathan India while trying to score from third base on Brice Turang’s groundball.
Willy Adames hit his 28th home run for the NL Central-leading Brewers, and Joey Ortiz had two hits and scored two runs. Tobias Myers allowed three runs, two earned, and eight hits in 5 2/3 innings.
