The Milwaukee Brewers gave Christian Yelich a rare night off on Wednesday and the rest of the club appeared to follow suit en route to its second straight loss to the Cincinnati Reds.
Yelich and Yasmani Grandal are expected to return to the starting lineup on Thursday afternoon as the visiting Brewers bid to salvage a split of their four-game series versus the Reds.
With Yelich remaining in the dugout and Grandal limited to pinch-hit duty, Milwaukee mustered just four hits — all singles — and struck out 13 times in Wednesday’s 3-0 loss. The setback was the 10th in 16 contests for the first-place Brewers, who are just 4 1/2 games ahead of the last-place Reds in the congested National League Central.
“As we entered this stretch, we were going to give him a day off,” Milwaukee manager Craig Counsell said of Yelich. “Christian just goes as hard as he can for as long as he can. I thought on the last homestand it was time to have the conversation about getting a day off. We decided (Wednesday) was the day.”
Yelich homered in the first two games of the series and he has one among his two hits in nine career at-bats versus Cincinnati right-hander Luis Castillo (7-3, 2.47 ERA), who will get the nod on Thursday.
Castillo sustained his second straight loss on Saturday despite allowing just one run on three hits in seven innings of a 6-0 setback versus the Chicago Cubs.
The 26-year-old Dominican fell to 2-3 with a 4.08 ERA in seven career starts against the Brewers after surrendering six runs (four earned) in 3 2/3 innings in a 6-5 loss on June 22 in Milwaukee.
Like Yelich, the Reds’ Yasiel Puig has gone deep in each of the last two games that he has played and has eight homers and 15 RBIs over his last 17.
Puig credited his team’s pitching for his improved production at the plate.
“Makes me more comfortable at the plate and on defense. We try to do the best we can because we see the pitcher is doing great,” said the 28-year-old Puig, who is 13-for-32 with four homers and 11 RBIs in the season series versus the Brewers.
Milwaukee right-hander Brandon Woodruff (10-2, 3.79) will look to keep Puig in the park when he gets the nod on Thursday afternoon.
Woodruff recorded his second straight win on Saturday after yielding one run on six hits in 7 2/3 innings against Pittsburgh.
That performance came after Woodruff struck out a career-high 12 batters in seven innings of a 7-5 victory over the Reds on June 23. The win upped his mark to 2-1 with a 5.93 ERA in four appearances (two starts) versus Cincinnati.
Joey Votto belted a three-run shot in that game and is 5-for-6 with two homers in his career versus Woodruff.
Whether Woodruff faces Scooter Gennett is anyone’s guess after the latter left Wednesday’s game with left groin tightness. Gennett previously had been sidelined with a right groin strain.
“He had a little bit of tightness,” Reds manager David Bell said. “Not in the groin he injured but the other one, which I was relieved to hear. We got him out of there to play it safe. We’ll see (Thursday). You don’t know if it is compensation. There was just a hint of tightness, so we played it safe.”
Gennett is 2-for-19, both singles, with five strikeouts since returning to the lineup on June 28.