Right-hander Freddy Peralta struck out 13 and Tyrone Taylor hit a two-run home run to lead the Milwaukee Brewers to a 3-0 victory over the visiting Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday afternoon in the deciding game of a three-game series.
In a pitchers’ duel, that also included the Reds’ Ben Lively, Peralta struck out the first five Reds batters of the game.
Peralta went six innings, giving up four hits with no walks and tied his career high for strikeouts in a mark he previously set in his major league debut at Colorado in 2018.
Elvis Peguero (2-3) picked up the win for the Brewers, following Peralta by pitching a scoreless seventh inning with two strikeouts.
Lively (4-6) went six shutout innings before allowing a two-run home run to Taylor in the bottom of the seventh. He gave up two runs on eight hits over 6 2/3 innings with no walks and three strikeouts.
Abraham Toro, who was recalled earlier Wednesday when Jesse Winker went on the injured list, reached base with a one-out single in the seventh inning before Taylor delivered his blast to left field, his second of the season.
The Brewers tacked on an insurance run in the eighth on an RBI-double from Andruw Monasterio to score Sal Frelick from first base with two outs. It was the Brewers’ first hit with a runner in scoring position after going 0-for-6 in those occasions.
With a three-run cushion, Brewers right-hander Devin Williams came on in the ninth to earn his 26th save of the season with two strikeouts. Williams also finished Milwaukee’s fourth shutout win against the Reds this season.
The game was the final matchup between the division rivals with Milwaukee winning the season series 10-3.
–Field Level Media