CINCINNATI — Prior to Friday night’s game, Brewers manager Pat Murphy said Shane Drohan was among the team’s unsung heroes this season and that the left-hander would remain in the starting rotation while the team continues to monitor his effectiveness.
“We’re keeping him in this spot right now,” Murphy said. “We’ve got a lot to accomplish, and we’ve got a lot of opportunities. He’s our best option right now as things sit.”
Drohan didn’t have his best outing in the series opener against the Reds, but he kept the Brewers in the game. And a big night from Brice Turang, along with Cooper Pratt’s bases-loaded triple during a five-run fifth inning, lifted first-place Milwaukee to a 10-7 win following a 50-minute rain-delayed start at Great American Ball Park.
Chad Patrick tossed two scoreless innings as four relievers combined to hold Cincinnati to one run over the final five innings. David Hamilton had an RBI triple in the second.
Drohan tied a season high with six earned runs, five of which scored on home runs by Matt McLain and Eugenio Suárez.
“He didn’t have his breaking ball at all,” Murphy said. “The breaking ball was hanging up there, and then he bounced it. He didn’t really have command.”
Drohan finished off his outing with a 1-2-3 fourth, including two strikeouts.
The Brewers scored two runs in the second off right-hander Rhett Lowder, one on Hamilton’s triple, but they were denied a chance to add on in the second, when Reds center fielder Dane Myers scaled the wall to rob Sal Frelick of a potential two-run homer to end the inning.
The Reds regained the lead on McLain’s two-run homer on a four-seam fastball from Drohan that clipped the top of the zone, making the score 3-2.
“It’s just unacceptable for me to have that type of game, especially with how the offense put up runs tonight,” said Drohan, who added he felt fine physically. “Two-strike pitches, just way too big of misses, which keeps them in the [at-bat]. We’re trying to make adjustments, but it just wasn’t there.”
Turang, who was dropped to sixth in the order on Friday while dealing with a left knee issue, delivered a two-run double in the third to give the Brewers a 4-3 lead.
“It was a fun game,” Turang said. “When you’re working extremely hard and not getting the outcomes you want, it’s to get a night like this where you see it paying off. Just being productive and having quality at-bats, and scoring the runners when I need to score them.”
Drohan was one strike away from getting out of a jam in the third, but Suárez’s three-run homer to center gave the Reds a 6-4 lead. His first 1-2-3 inning came in the fourth, when he fanned two. Drohan was at 78 pitches through four frames.
A five-run fifth inning propelled Milwaukee back into the lead.
The Brewers loaded the bases with no outs in the fifth. The Reds replaced Lowder with left-hander Sam Moll, who promptly hit Turang to force in a run to cut the Reds’ lead to 6-5.
On a 2-2 pitch from Moll, Pratt tripled down the right-field line to clear the bases, then he scored on a wild pitch to give the Brewers a 9-6 lead. William Contreras doubled in a run in the sixth.
“Our guys just kept after it, off an emotional series with the Cubs,” Murphy said. “It was a very offensive yard tonight. We just kept pecking away.”