Reds Drop Finale to Milwaukee and Head West

The Reds wanted a sweep but Zack Greinke and the Brewers had something to say about it, taking the final game of the home stand, 8-4.

"Two of three is nice but we'd have felt much better with three of three, heading to the West Coast," Dusty Baker said.

The Reds had a 3-3 home stand, now head to California for a three-city tour of the state.  They will play San Francisco for four, Los Angeles for three and San Diego for four.  They have a four-day All-Star Game break before hosting its nearest division rivals, the St. Louis Cardinals.

Milwaukee took advantage of two early mistakes by Homer Bailey to put together a 5-1 lead.

Corey Hart tripled to start the second, a ball that Chris Heisey nearly caught.  Weeks hit a long fly to center and Heisey leaped but could not come up with the ball.

Norichika Aoki singled to begin the third went second on a errant pick off attempt by Bailey and scored on a single by Aramis Ramirez.  Ramirez was caught stealing to end the inning but kicked Phillips in the temple with a late slide.

Phillips managed to single home Chris Heisey, who doubled, even though Phillps was woozy.

Cody Ransom hit Bailey's second mistake our of the confines of Great American Ball Park with two outs in the fourth to give Milwaukee a 5-1 lead.

"It was two mistakes.  Sometimes that's all it takes," Bailey said.  "Even on Hart's triple, I felt I made a good pitch.  It was on the end of the bat but in this ballpark, it went off the wall.  On Ransom's I was trying to elevate the pitch and didn't get it up high enoug

Ryan Ludwick hit a pair of home runs in his second multi-home run game of the season and 16th time of his career.  The Reds thought the had a tie game when Votto backed Nyjer Morgan up to the right field fence for a long out in the eighth with runners at first and second.

"We thought Joey had tied the game up but he got it on the end of the bat," Baker said.

The run scored on a force out by Miguel Cairo subbing for the woozy Phillips.  Jay Bruce hit the next pitch hard but Weeks made a nice back hand stop and Hart managed to keep his foot on the bag while snagging a  wild throw.

Jose Arredondo was wild in the top of the ninth, walking home two runs to put the game out of reach.

The Reds are set to fly to San Francisco with a lead in the NL Central.

"The time difference is big the first couple days," Baker said.  "You wake up at seven when you don't need to.  But you adjust.  One of the things that make it tough are all the distractions in California.  It is a trip that lots of families like to go on.  You can't do Disneyland or anything like that.  I've had guys come in with tans and sunburns from the beach.  The wives are important.  If they take the kids somewhere, while daddy gets some rest."