Reds Sweep Brewers Go 15 Games Over .500

The Reds bench backed Johnny Cueto in the Reds 2-1 win over the fading Milwaukee Brewers. Chris Heisey,

Wilson Valdez and Miguel Cairo combined for four hits and scored two runs. Cueto scattered eight hits that included three doubles and a triple. 

Cueto was able to diffuse several rallies with some of his nine strikeouts. Norichika Aoki hit a pair of doubles.

 The first came leading off the third inning. Cueto struck out Nyjer Morgan and Ryan Braun but Aramis Ramirez singled to put Milwaukee in the lead.

 The Reds responded. Heisey starting in centerfield for Drew Stubbs singled to open the inning. Heisey stole second base and scored on a single to center by Valdez. Heisey challenged Nyjer Morgan's suspect arm and beat the throw. Rookie starting pitcher Mike Fiers threw the ball away trying to pick Valdez off first. The Reds shortstop scooted to third from where he scored on Brandon Phillips fly to shallow center. Again the Reds beat Morgan's throw. This time Valdez scored standing.

"I was going to take a chance," Valdez said.  "They have to have perfect execution.  They have to get to the ball.  They have to pick up the ball. They have to get in position to make the throw and they have to throw the ball."

Cueto pitched through the seventh without allowing Milwakee to score a second time to drop his ERA to 2.23. He started the day second to former Red, Ryan Dempster, who sports a 2.11 ERA.

"I was aggressive on every pitch," Cueto said through Tomas Vera.  "I threw a lot of pitches in the first inning. I want to throw fewer pitches than that so I can pitch into the seventh or eighth inning."

"You know Johnny's not going to give up many runs," Valdez said.  "You know you might only have to score a couple of runs."

Logan Ondrusek allowed two hits but pitched a scoreless eighth.

Aroldis Chapman earned his 17th save with two strikeouts.

The Reds dropped Milwaukee 10 1/2 games behind in it's defense of its NL Central title.

The Reds were a whopping 8-2 on the homestand.  It is only the fifth time in franchise history that they have won that many games in a homestand of 10 games or fewer.  The last time they did it was in 1975 when the Big Red Machine won eight games in a nine game homestand.

They swept both division rivals, including the St. Louis Cardinals on the homestand.

"We got off to a great start with the sweep of St. Louis and had a great end with this sweep," Dusty Baker said.  "It's real big.  You know you can pick up and lose ground (quickly within the division)."

No home runs were hit in the game stopping the streak of 74 games at Great American Ball Park with at least one home run.