Major League Baseball
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Cincinnati 3, Milwaukee 1
When: 7:10 PM ET, Tuesday, September 23, 2014
Where: Great American Ball Park, Cincinnati, Ohio
Temperature: 72°
Umpires: Home - CB Bucknor, 1B - Dan Iassogna, 2B - Dale Scott, 3B - Quinn Wolcott
Attendance: 27307

Reds 3, Brewers 1: Johnny Cueto matched a career high with his 19th victory as host Cincinnati pushed Milwaukee to the brink of elimination from postseason contention.

Todd Frazier (two hits) and Devin Mesoraco hit back-to-back home runs in the first inning, and Jason Bourgeois drove in an insurance run for the Reds. Cueto (19-9) yielded one run, four hits and struck out seven in eight innings while retiring 14 in a row at one point, and Aroldis Chapman allowed a lead-off hit batsman and a one-out walk in the ninth before striking out Aramis Ramirez and Ryan Braun to earn his 34th save in 36 chances.

Carlos Gomez homered among his two hits for the Brewers, who have lost five of their last six and saw their magic number to be eliminated by San Francisco reduced to one. Mike Fiers (6-4) lost his second straight start after yielding two runs and four hits in five innings.

Cincinnati hit back-to-back homers for the first time since April 3 when Frazier's 28th of the season sailed out to straightaway center and Mesoraco's 25th cleared the wall in left - both on 3-2 pitches. Cueto retired the side in order in the second through fifth innings and recorded the first two outs in the sixth before Gomez launched a first-pitch offering out to center for his 22nd home run.

Milwaukee threatened by putting two on with none out in the seventh, but Cueto escaped when Braun grounded into a 5-3 double play and Gerardo Parra fouled out. Brayan Pena led off the eighth with a pinch-hit double, advanced to third on Billy Hamilton's sacrifice and scored when Bourgeois chopped an RBI single through the hole and into left field.

GAME NOTEBOOK: The Brewers scored nine runs in their last seven games while allowing 15. ... The Reds are 6-8 in a stretch of 19 consecutive games against the National League Central to end the season. ... Cueto on Sunday tries to become the first Cincinnati pitcher to win 20 games since Danny Jackson (23-8) in 1988.
Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
Milwaukee   Cincinnati
Mike Fiers Player Johnny Cueto
Loss W/L Win
5.0 IP 8.0
3 Strikeouts 7
4 Hits 4
3.60 ERA 1.12
Hitting
Milwaukee   Cincinnati
Carlos Gomez Player Todd Frazier
2 Hits 2
1 RBI 1
1 HR 1
5 TB 6
.667 Avg .500
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Hits HR TB Avg LOB K RBI BB SB Errors
Milwaukee 4 1 7 .138 9 10 1 2 1 0
Cincinnati 6 2 15 .222 7 4 3 1 0 2