CINCINNATI - Through seven innings, the Milwaukee Brewers hadn't managed a hit off Bronson Arroyo. Worse, they had hit only four balls out of the infield.
It was bad, and they all knew it.
Milwaukee ended Arroyo's no-hit bid with one out in the eighth and rallied for three runs to tie it, but Drew Stubbs led off the bottom half with a homer, sending the Cincinnati Reds to a 4-3 victory on Tuesday night.
Arroyo's no-hit drama ended abruptly. He walked George Kottaras with one out, then gave up a double by Taylor Green that landed just inside the right field line.
"Probably by the fifth inning, you see the zero up there and you really want to get one," Green said.
The Brewers seemed to relax once they got that first hit. Corey Hart had a pinch-hit double that cut it to 3-2, and Norichiki Aoki singled to tie it and end Arroyo's outing.
People are also reading…
But in the bottom of the inning, John Axford (1-5) left a fastball over the middle of the plate on his first pitch to Stubbs, who connected for the first time since June 2. In his 31 appearances this season, Axford has allowed the first batter to reach safely 15 times.
After the Brewers pulled even in the eighth, Sean Marshall (2-3) got the final out. Aroldis Chapman struck out three in the ninth for his ninth save in 12 tries, celebrating the three-hitter with a pair of somersaults in front of the mound.
The futility felt familiar to the Brewers, who had been held to one run in three of their last four games. Their last nine losses have come by two runs or less.
"Yeah, it's difficult to take," Axford said. "Last year we were on the better end of a lot of those. It's been a change from last year."
For the second night in a row, a pitcher set a career high in strikeouts at hitter-friendly Great American Ball Park. Cincinnati's Mat Latos fanned 13 in a 3-1 complete-game victory in the series opener on Monday.
