Before the start of the fourth inning, Cincinnati Reds starting pitcher Sonny Gray decided to take one more warmup pitch.
At the time, Gray was on track to have one of his best starts of the season. He had five strikeouts through three innings. But after that final throw, Gray signaled for the trainer, left the game with a groin injury and turned a one-run lead over to the Reds bullpen against the Milwaukee Brewers on Tuesday.
Two pitches later, the score was tied and the Brewers were on their way to snapping the Reds four-game winning streak. After the Reds bullpen allowed five runs, Milwaukee beat Cincinnati, 5-1, in front of 11,897 at Great American Ball Park.
With the loss, the Reds missed an opportunity to get to .500 for the first time since May 16.
“(Gray) had it all working,” Reds manager David Bell said. “Very frustrating. It is one game. The bigger concern now is hoping he's OK and it's nothing serious, we can get him back before too long. That's where our minds are right now.”
Gray said he had never dealt with a groin injury before, but he could tell he was hurt right when it happened. After a few warmup pitches, Gray winced, called over a team trainer and left the game.
“I don’t think it’s bad, bad, bad,” Gray said. “I do think if I would have continued to throw, it maybe would have got to a point where it would’ve got very uncomfortable. I’ve never walked off the field like that, so that was a first.”
One game after the Reds bullpen allowed seven runs in an inning, Bell used two different relievers with the game on the line. Gray handed the Reds bullpen a 1-0 lead, but it didn’t last long into the fourth inning.
Sean Doolittle entered the game after Gray’s injury, and Brewers outfielder Avisaíl García hit his second pitch over the left field fence for a home run.
In the fifth inning, reliever Ryan Hendrix walked the first two batters he faced and threw two wild pitches, allowing the inning’s leadoff hitter to advance to third base. Brewers left fielder Christian Yelich’s groundout gave the Brewers a 2-1 lead.
Hendrix was credited with the loss, and the Reds bullpen allowed five runs and walked nine batters.
“I think we're just looking at ways to continue to improve in all areas,” Bell said of the bullpen. “We're attacking really good hitters and trying to make pitches. The idea is always to get ahead and maybe get some easy outs and maybe get strikeouts, which is a big part of what we do and our philosophy. It has led to some walks.”
The Reds bullpen ranks near the top of MLB in most home runs allowed and most walks allowed, and that trend continued as the Brewers took the lead. Milwaukee added another run in the seventh against Reds reliever Brad Brach on a fielder’s choice, a walk and a single.
Reds reliever Ashton Goudeau pitched the last two innings and allowed four walks and two runs.
“Any time your starter, something like that happens, it definitely puts the pressure on our bullpen to cover the game,” Bell said. “I feel like it could be worse. Getting through the game the way we did, we gave ourselves an opportunity.”
While the Reds starting lineup was closer to full strength with first baseman Joey Votto returning off the injured list, Cincinnati didn’t have the same success that the team had at the plate in its sweep over the Cardinals.
Center fielder Shogo Akiyama hit an RBI single on a seven pitch at-bat in the bottom of the second inning. That was the only run that Brewers fourth starter Adrian Houser allowed, and he allowed five hits in 5 ⅓ innings.
Houser handed the lead to one of the best late-game bullpens in baseball. The Reds didn’t have a hit against Milwaukee’s bullpen until there were two outs in the ninth inning, and the Brewers didn’t need their closer after a two-run ninth against Goudeau.
“I believe we walked six times, but we weren't able to string any hits together,” Bell said. “Houser did a nice job… We just couldn't get anything going tonight against him.”
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