Shutout win has Crew within 1 game of 1st-place Reds at break

MILWAUKEE -- Not only was it the Brewers’ final game before the All-Star break, but Sunday’s matchup also marked the end of one of their toughest stretches so far this season.

And they got through it with flying colors.

The Crew wrapped up its stretch of 17 games without an off-day, defeating the Reds 1-0 at American Family Field to win the three-game series. After going 11-6 in the challenging stretch, Milwaukee (49-42) enters the break one game back of NL Central-leading Cincinnati (50-41).

Before Sunday’s game, manager Craig Counsell pointed to his bullpen and said he was proud of its work over the last two weeks. The Brewers have leaned hard on their relievers.

After Wade Miley spun six shutout innings Sunday, Elvis Peguero, Joel Payamps and All-Star Devin Williams didn’t allow a baserunner over the final three frames.

The Brewers scored the game’s lone run in the first inning; Christian Yelich hit a leadoff double and scored on a Jesse Winker single.

“We pitched very well,” Counsell said. “The four guys who have had really good first halves for us and pitched really well for us in the first half kept them to zero.”

“We have a pretty good group of guys, group of pitchers out there, that we know can perform and get outs,” Payamps said through interpreter Carlos Brizuela. “It’s fun to watch every one of us go out there and do our job.”

Miley, who had a strong first half in his return to Milwaukee, allowed four hits and three walks; the free passes all came in the fifth inning.

And if the Brewers ever needed a big performance, it was on this day -- after a tough loss Saturday night, against a Reds lineup that has been among baseball’s best over the last month.

Miley allowed four hits and three walks in his six innings, twice working around leadoff doubles, in the first and fourth innings.

After a leadoff walk in the fifth, he induced a 5-4-3 double play, started by a nice pick by Brian Anderson at third base.

“We've seen Wade Miley a lot,” Reds manager David Bell said of the lefty who spent 2020-21 in Cincinnati. “And we've seen him pitch really well, obviously a no-hitter, he did a great job for us. I don't know if I've seen him like that. That was really, really good.

“I know our hitters aren't thinking that way, they expected to score some runs, but Wade really pitched well. He was throwing hard, he looked great out there. Good for Wade."

In his 13 starts in the first half, Miley posted a 3.06 ERA in 67 2/3 innings.

Miley missed a month from May 17-June 17 after going on the injured list with a left lat strain, a moment Counsell recalled after Sunday’s win. Miley’s injury was among several to the Brewers’ rotation early in the season. Things were starting to look dire.

“[General manager Matt Arnold] and I talked at a point kind of in early May,” Counsell said. “When Wade went down and [Brandon Woodruff] was down, there was concern, certainly, about starting pitching for sure.

“To get to this point, we put ourselves in it, and that's what you want. That's what you ask for. We know that no matter where you're at, the second half is going to decide [the division]. We put ourselves squarely in. And that's the place you want to be.”

For all they have encountered to this point, the Brewers are in the thick of things at the break.

“You work hard all year as a team to put yourself in a position to succeed and play meaningful games at the end of the year,” Yelich said. “We still have a lot of work to do in order to have that happen. Overall, it was kind of an up and down first half for us.

“We dealt with a lot as a team. I definitely think there's room for improvement in a lot of areas. We put ourselves in a position to be within striking distance, to be close and hopefully have a good second half.”