Kolten Wong fuels Milwaukee Brewers to sequence win over Cincinnati Reds

May 23, 2021; Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; Cincinnati Reds catcher Tucker Barnhart (16) is sure of second place against Milwaukee Brewers second baseman Kolten Wong (16) after a wild pitch during the second inning at Great American Ball Park. Mandatory Credit: David Kohl-USA TODAY Sports

Kolten Wong returned from a sore foot and forearm, finishing a homer that lagged behind the cycle. The visiting Milwaukee Brewers led to a 9-4 win over the Cincinnati Reds on Sunday afternoon.

Christian Yelich shot an 11-0 skid with an RBI double and a long home run, and Avisail Garcia also went down when Milwaukee hit the rubber game of the three series.

Milwaukee finished its road trip in five games with a 2-3 record, while Cincinnati closed its homestand with seven games with just one win. Brewery manager Craig Counsell ranked second on the all-time franchise list for manager earnings at 457. Phil Garner leads with 563.

The only bright spot for Cincinnati was the continued heavy hit from the top two players.

Jesse Winker and Nick Castellanos both met, combined five of Cincinnati’s six hits, and drove in all four heats. Castellanos (.356) skipped Winker (.355) with his ninth homer in the ninth inning for the lead in the National League.

Projected Cincinnati ace Luis Castillo (1-7) continued his poor start through 2021, losing his sixth straight start after allowing five runs and five hits while running four over five innings.

Milwaukee starter Freddy Peralta was shy about qualifying for the win. Brad Boxberger (1-1) took his first win by reaching the final of the fifth inning and helping Peralta out of a traffic jam.

Castillo struggled again in the first inning when he allowed Wong a leadoff single, who was back on the Brewers line-up after taking a pitch off his right arm on Friday and missing Saturday’s game.

Garcia singled and then Castillo went to Daniel Vogelbach and Travis Shaw – with one goal in his last 25 hits – to force Milwaukee’s first run home. Willy Adames battled an inside fastball and won two more runs home to give the Brewers a 3-0 lead.

The Brewers increased their lead to 5-0 in the third inning after Garcia joined for his seventh homer, a two-part flight to the right that landed just over the wall.

The Reds ended Peralta’s scoreless inning streak at age 18 when Winker drilled a solo homer of 456 feet into the power stacks in the center right, his 13th of the season and fifth of the three-game streak.

Referee Ron Kulpa missed Sunday’s game with a concussion after removing a fastball from Cincinnati starter Sonny Gray from his face mask on Saturday’s sixth inning.

–Field level media