CINCINNATI – It took nearly three months into the season for the Reds to finally face their nemesis and a division rival in the first-place Brewers for the first time in 2026. Monday's series opener vs. Milwaukee was a reminder that absence doesn't always make the heart grow fonder.
On a night where Brady Singer provided the Reds with one of their best pitching performances of the season, their lineup was foiled during a 2-1 loss in 10 innings at Great American Ball Park.
It didn't help Cincinnati that Brewers starter Brandon Woodruff was perfect through the first 5 1/3 innings in his first game back from a two-month stint on the injured list.
“On the offensive side, I thought there were some guys who took good swings off Woodruff and just, unfortunately, couldn’t find some grass on some of those when we needed them to," center fielder Blake Dunn said. "Just a lot of battling and some swings didn’t go our way.”
That kind of frustration is familiar to the Reds (37-40), who have dropped 17 of 20 series to Milwaukee dating back to 2021. They are now in a stretch where they're playing seven of 10 games against the Brewers (47-29).
Singer pitched a season-high seven innings while allowing two hits and two walks with a season-high seven strikeouts. It was only the second time this season a Cincinnati starter worked seven innings, following Chase Burns during a 1-0 loss on May 3 at Pittsburgh.
Over 15 starts this season, Singer has a 4.81 ERA after he dealt with inconsistency the first two months. But the veteran right-hander has locked in lately, with a 1.50 ERA over his last three games.
“Boy, he looks a lot more like Singer," manager Terry Francona said. "You can tell his confidence is growing, and he’s been working hard. He got some swings below the zone on his breaking ball, got some up high on his fastball – changed their eye levels.”
Singer walked his first two batters of the second inning and had Garrett Mitchell in a 3-0 count before recovering to get a sinker for a called strike three. Then he retired 17 of 18 batters during one stretch, including 11 in a row after Brice Turang's fourth-inning double for Milwaukee's first hit.
“I just honestly lost kind of the feel in the second, just felt a little out of whack," Singer said. "I just tried to stay competitive in the zone. The sinker was moving a lot. Once I kind of saw them taking some inside, I was able to use that to my advantage. I just tried to lock back in and not let that inning kind of unravel.”
With it still a scoreless game after six innings, Francona gave Singer the seventh since he was only at 89 pitches. Mitchell reached on a two-out infield single to the diving second baseman Spencer Steer, and Singer got Sal Frelick to fly out with his season-high 106th and final pitch.
“That was awesome," Singer said. "I’m obviously really thankful for Tito letting me go past 100 and letting me go in the seventh too. It was cool for me.”
Woodruff retired the 16 batters in a row – including nine by strikeout – until Tyler Stephenson hit a one-out single to left-center field in the sixth.
"I really had to press the gas there just to make sure I didn’t [allow] the run to score,” Woodruff said. “Singer was throwing the heck out of the ball, and you just knew it was going to be a close game.”
The game remained scoreless until the top of the 10th inning. Tony Santillan – coming off of a six-out save vs. the Yankees on Sunday – walked Mitchell to start the inning and paid for it. After a sacrifice bunt, Joey Ortiz's sacrifice fly scored automatic runner Jake Bauers with the first run. A wild pitch in the dirt by Santillan to Cooper Pratt scored Mitchell.
“You give up one, you feel like we’ve got a runner on second. The breaking ball that got away, that changes the game a lot," Francona said. "I thought our guys pitched terrific. When they pitch like that, it’s a lot easier to feel like the glass is half full.”
An RBI groundout by Sal Stewart in the bottom of the 10th plated the Reds' lone run.
The loss came on the Reds' final day of not having superstar Elly De La Cruz available to them while he's been on the injured list with a right hamstring strain. Cincinnati lost 12 of 19 games without De La Cruz while averaging only 3.7 runs per game.
“Huge having him back in the lineup," Dunn said. "Everyone’s really excited for it."