Lively goes toe to toe with Peralta until 7th-inning blast

MILWAUKEE -- As his Brewers counterpart, Freddy Peralta, put together one of his best starts this season, Reds right-hander Ben Lively matched him pitch for pitch Wednesday at American Family Field.

But the Brewers broke a scoreless tie in the seventh inning, when Tyrone Taylor deposited a first-pitch slider from Lively over the left-field fence for a two-run homer. It led to a 3-0 loss for the Reds, and a series loss as well.

“I was second guessing that pitch too once I committed to throw it,” Lively said. “It wasn’t a bad location, just wasn’t enough on it, and he guessed right. Just one of those things.

“I wanted it more off the plate, and it just stayed on. Sliders, if you guess right first pitch and it stays on the plate, it happens.”

Not only was Wednesday the finale of this week’s three-game set between the Reds and Brewers, but their season series all together. The division rivals will not play each other the final two months of the regular season.

The Brewers, who now lead the second-place Reds by 1 1/2 games in the National League Central, won the season set handedly, going 10-3, but it was a lot closer than that. The Reds dropped six of the last seven matchups, and four of those losses were by one run.

Eight of those 10 losses were by three or fewer runs. Lately, they’ve all been tight, as Elly De La Cruz pointed out Monday.

“We know we’re right there,” Lively said. “It only takes one big inning for us, and it can go either way. We know we’re right there. We’re staying positive, and we’re going to keep going.”

In four of their 10 losses, however, the Reds were held scoreless. Wednesday was a slow afternoon against Peralta right out of the chute. The Brewers starter struck out the first five Reds hitters he faced, and he only allowed one baserunner the first time through Cincinnati’s lineup.

Peralta went six innings, allowed four hits and no walks and struck out 13 -- tying a career high. He only threw 89 pitches and worked around a leadoff ground-rule double by Jonathan India in the fifth inning and a two-out double by TJ Friedl in the sixth to keep the Reds scoreless.

Peralta mixed and matched, tallying seven strikeouts with his four-seam fastball, three with his slider, two with his curveball and one with his changeup.

“We struck out quite a bit. No walks,” manager David Bell said. “When you have a pitcher locating those pitches and throwing 97, 98 [mph], you have to honor that and respect that. It makes everything else look that much better. When you’re throwing strikes and doing all of that, it’s a real tough at-bat.”

The 18 total strikeouts tied the Reds offense’s season high, set in another game against the Brewers on July 14. It’s also one short of the most by any team this season (19 by the Mariners on April 29 vs. the Blue Jays).

“For us, all games are very important,” Peralta said. “But you can tell the difference in the series we played in Cincinnati and this one. We knew that we had to do our best in this series because we know the team we’re playing right now, they have a lot of energy.”

Peralta’s performance seemed to bring out the best in Lively. He was one out shy from matching his longest start this season. It was his second quality start this year and first since May 24 against the Cardinals.

In 6 2/3 innings, he allowed two runs on eight hits, striking out three with no walks. The home run to Taylor came after an Abraham Toro single.

“Everyone wants homers and hits now,” Lively said. “But when we have those games going, I’m like, ‘All right, this is the mound time.’ It’s pretty cool, and it gets me going another gear.”

The Brewers and Reds finishing their season series before the end of July is a unique element of MLB’s balanced schedules. It’s also something that, as Bell pointed out before the game, is out of their control, and they’re focused on who is left on their schedule.

“I really understand the importance when you're playing a divisional opponent that you're battling it out with,” Bell said. “But it's pretty simple. We have a lot of games that are going to be against other teams that are going to be very important, and that'll be our focus.”