After bringing an end to a four-game losing streak, the Milwaukee Brewers will be looking to secure back-to-back wins over the visiting Cincinnati Reds on Saturday. They remained dominant on the mound and held the Reds to only one run in Friday’s matchup. It was like night and day compared to their ugly three-game meeting with the Pittsburgh Pirates in their previous series. The Reds are expected to start Nick Lodolo on the mound in this game opposite of Milwaukee’s Aaron Ashby.
There wasn’t much to celebrate in Friday night’s game for Reds’ fans.
The offense was completely non-existent on the road, and Robert Dugger gave up five runs in the first two innings. There was nothing to like about the opener from a Reds team that’s now 7-2 in the head-to-head meetings with Milwaukee this season.
Scoring a lone run isn’t going to get the job done at American Family Field, not unless the Reds plan on shutting down the No. 6-ranked scoring offense in the league. Yeah, good luck with that with a pitching rotation with the second-worst ERA behind the Washington Nationals. The Reds can’t afford to hang their hopes on Nick Lodolo (4.23 ERA) pitching a gem in his start.
The bats have to come alive at some point to match what the Brewers do at the plate. And that could be a lot considering how badly the Reds have struggl ed this season on the mound. It would help if Lodolo pitches against the Brewers as well as he threw against the Baltimore Orioles and Miami Marlins in his previous two outings.
But the level of difficulty will obviously be higher in this matchup.