• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers
• Game Tracker

Reds hope to play spoiler against Brewers

Sep 12, 2014 - 2:33 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - They didn't do so well this season in a contender's role, but the Cincinnati Reds are beginning to settle in just fine as a spoiler.

The Reds come into a three-game weekend series with Milwaukee at Miller Park, beginning on Friday night, having won three straight games from the team the Brewers are pursuing in the National League's Central Division -- the St. Louis Cardinals.

Cincinnati had dropped eight of 10 games, including the opener of the series with St. Louis, before winning three in a row. The Reds were within 1 1/2 games of the Central lead at the All-Star break, but proceeded to put up the worst record in the NL for the subsequent 48 games -- 16-32 -- to fall from contention.

"We created an environment where we play the spoiler," manager Bryan Price said.

The Brewers enter the series 1 1/2 games out of the second of two NL wild card playoff spots. Milwaukee had gone 3-16 in a 19-game stretch before finishing a series with the Miami Marlins with consecutive wins.

The Brewers now must focus on Cincinnati, which managed six runs while being swept in a three-game series at Miller Park in July.

Cincinnati's Mat Latos was the loser in the opener of that series after allowing five runs in seven innings of a 5-2 loss, which pushed him to 0-4 in six career starts at Milwaukee with a 3.66 earned run average.

He'd beaten the Brewers once in two previous starts this season while allowing two runs in 14 innings.

Latos took a 4-3 loss to the New York Mets in his last outing on Sunday, in which he allowed three unearned runs in six innings.

He's opposed by ex-Red Kyle Lohse, who's been rocked for 12 runs in 9 2/3 innings while losing consecutive starts. He'd had a stretch of five home starts in which he'd allowed just seven runs, but saw that streak end with a 5-3 loss to St. Louis on Saturday in which he allowed five runs in four innings.

"He's a feel guy, and he's lost his feel right now," Milwaukee catcher Jonathan Lucroy said.

He's split two decisions against the Reds while compiling a 3.00 ERA in 2014.

On Thursday in Cincinnati, Johnny Cueto (18-8) allowed just three hits, struck out seven and walked one over eight innings, becoming the second pitcher in the majors to reach 18 wins in a 1-0 defeat of the St. Louis Cardinals.

The right-hander has now won three straight decisions, yielding only three runs on 18 hits with 22 strikeouts and four walks over 23 innings during that span. Aroldis Chapman came on for the ninth and worked around a two-out walk to Matt Holliday to record his 33rd save of the season.

Ramon Santiago, Jay Bruce and Billy Hamilton had the only hits for the Reds.

In Milwaukee, Ryan Braun and Matt Clark both smacked solo home runs as the Brewers topped Miami, 4-2, in a game that saw Marlins slugger Giancarlo Stanton be carted off with a facial injury. The Marlins said Stanton was undergoing X-rays and a CT scan at a local hospital.

Aramis Ramirez and Scooter Gennett both knocked in a run for the Brewers.