The Brewers beat the Reds, 1-0, in Milwaukee in the last game before the All-Star break.
And the main culprit Friday was All-Star pitcher Corbin Burnes as the Brewers beat the Reds for the sixth time in eight games this season.
Burnes allowed two runs in six innings in a 7-3 win over the Reds on July 7. He was even better Friday night. He gave up two singles, walked two and struck out 13.
Those two harmless singles by TJ Friedl and Will Benson were the sum of Cincinnati’s offense and the Reds struck out 18 times.
Burnes nearly fainted on the mound with two outs in the fifth. After a pitch to Matt McLain, he crumpled to his knees. He stayed down for nearly seven minutes while the Brewers’ trainer gave him a full examination.
Amazingly, he stayed in the game and struck out the side in the sixth, his final inning.
The Reds have gone 18 straight innings without a run against the Brewers.
With the win, the Brewers pulled into a tie for first place with the Reds, both at 50-42, with two games remaining in the series.
Cincinnati starter Graham Ashcraft kept in step with Burnes, minus the strikeouts.
He escaped minor problems in the first three innings, but escaped, holding, the Brewers to three hits through six innings.
But Willy Adames, who munches on Reds pitching like a ham sandwich, opened the seventh with a double over center fielder Friedl’s head. Owen Miller singled Adames to third.
Ashcraft was replaced by Lucas Sims and Victor Caratini blooped a shallow single to right, scoring Adames with the game’s only run.
The Reds reached second base only twice. McLain walked with one out in the second. Jake Fraley struck out. McLain took second on a wild pitch, but Elly De La Cruz struck out on three pitches on his way to a three-strikeout night.
Friedl singled with one out in the third. After McLain struck out, Fraley was hit by a pitch, putting runners on second and first. De La Cruz struck out again.
That started a dry spell during which 19 of the final 20 Reds went down, 12 via strikeouts.
The only hitter to reach base during that futile span was Benson with a one-out single in the fifth.
After Burnes burned the Reds, Elvis Peguero pitched a 1-2-3 seventh with a strikeout, Joel Payamps pitched a 1-2-3 eighth with two strikeouts and closer Devin Williams put the exclamation point on it in the ninth for his 21st save.
Fraley was batting third in a lineup switch that had Jonathan India dropped from third to fifth. Fraley led off the ninth by working a 3-and-2 count, then struck out. De La Cruz flied to center. India, too, worked a full count and struck out.
Ashcraft (4-7) gave up a one-out double in the first to Wlliam Contreras but retired the next two. He walked the leadoff hitter in the second, but the Reds turned a double play.
He walked No. 9 hitter Joey Wiemer with one out in the third. He took second on a ground ball. Contreras singled to left and Wiemer tried to score.
Catcher Tyler Stephenson grew a beard waiting for Wiemer to arrive and he was out on left fielder Spencer Steer’s perfect peg, his first career outfield assist.
Ashcraft pitched a perfect fourth and fifth. He gave up a leadoff single to Wiemer in the sixth and the Reds turned another double play.
Then came the decisive seventh as the Reds’ record in one-run games fell to 20-16. The Brewers are 16-7 in one-run affairs.
SATURDAY’S GAME
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