Geno celebrates US citizenship by matching Junior with 210 HRs for Reds

CINCINNATI -- Eugenio Suárez missed the Reds' previous two games to be in Miami for his U.S. naturalization exams. Back in the lineup on Friday night after passing his test, Suárez had some great American moments at Great American Ball Park.

First, teammates hung an American flag and a stars-and-stripes-laden cowboy hat over Suárez's locker. They also replaced his usual walk-up music with Lee Greenwood's "God Bless the U.S.A." -- aka "Proud to be an American."

In his second plate appearance against the Brewers during the third inning, Suárez slugged a go-ahead three-run home run in a thrilling moment for the native of Venezuela. However, Cincinnati was foiled once again by its National League Central nemesis Milwaukee for a 10-7 loss.

That moved the Reds' record in the season series vs. the Brewers to 1-7.

As starting pitcher Rhett Lowder labored, he and the Reds blew three early leads -- 1-0 after one inning, 3-2 after two innings and 6-4 in the third, which came via Suárez's long ball.

Batting with two outs and two on against Brewers left-handed starter Shane Drohan, Suárez pummeled a 2-2 fastball and sent it to left-center field for a three-run homer, his 21st of the season and No. 210 as a member of the Reds. That tied him with Ken Griffey Jr. for ninth on the franchise's all-time list.

“It was pretty special but not surprising. He’s just a complete pro about his business," center fielder Dane Myers said of Suárez.

After Suárez returned to the dugout, Reds players were heard chanting, "USA, USA!"

In the second inning, Suárez walked and scored on Matt McLain's one-out homer to left-center field off of Drohan.

“Early on, it looked good. They scored and we come back," manager Terry Francona said. "It’s just their bullpen stopped us and our bullpen didn’t stop them.”

While throwing 104 pitches, Lowder lasted only four-plus innings with seven runs (six earned), six hits, four walks and two strikeouts.

“That’s a lot of traffic," Francona said.

Both of Lowder's walks in the third inning haunted him, when Brice Turang hit a two-out, two-run double to right field. Mistakes in the top of the fifth inning led to a five-run Milwaukee rally.

“What stems from that is two-strike execution that led to some walks, led to some base hits," Lowder said. "I left some balls over the plate. On the flip side, I expanded too much and got into bad counts that led to some walks.”

After a Jackson Chourio leadoff single, Lowder walked Christian Yelich. A potential double-play grounder to shortstop Elly De La Cruz was botched for an error that loaded the bases with no outs.

“You’ve got a chance to have maybe two outs and a runner on third," Francona said. "I went back and looked at it a couple of times. It went right in between [William] Contreras’ legs. The ball snuck up on Elly after that. It was unfortunate.”

Lefty reliever Sam Moll took over and hit Turang with a pitch to force in a run. With one out, Cooper Pratt hit a three-run triple to right field and scored on a wild pitch.

The Reds (67-74) entered the night winners in five of their previous seven games — including against the contending Cubs and Padres -- but the Brewers (88-54) not only have MLB’s best record, they have taken 19 of the last 22 series between the two clubs since 2021.

“Our offense was doing their job and I just gave it right back," Lowder said. "I felt like I got into position to do it and I was one pitch away, didn’t make that pitch and they capitalized on it in back-to-back innings also.”