MILWAUKEE -- Round one of the critical division series to end the first half went to the Brewers on a tough night for Andrew Abbott.

The rookie left-hander suffered his first defeat, allowing a career-high six runs on nine hits in 4 1/3 innings during a 7-3 loss to the Brewers on Friday night in the opener of the final three-game series heading into the All-Star break.

The Reds lost for just the fifth time in the past 25 games as the second-place Brewers moved within a game in the NL Central. Cincinnati opens the second half of the season with three games at home against the Brewers and comes back to Milwaukee in late July.

Abbott, who held the Brewers to one hit over six scoreless innings in his Major League debut on June 5, had given up just five runs in 37 1/3 innings in his first six career starts.

This time around, he was tagged for two runs in each of the first two innings and saw his ERA climb from 1.21 to 2.38 by the time he departed -- the first time he didn’t pitch into the sixth inning.

"I just mainly didn't execute at all, really,” Abbott said. “Just left fastballs middle, left every offspeed pitch up. They put some really good swings on them, but it just came down to execution and just not putting them away."

After fanning Christian Yelich to open the first, Abbott was tagged for three consecutive doubles by William Contreras, Willy Adames and Owen Miller.

Joey Wiemer made it 4-0 in the second with his 12th homer to score Victor Caratini after a walk.

“He's had a lot of success so far in this league in his six starts, and anytime you hit a bunch of balls hard against a pitcher, they're going to kind of start thinking, 'Do I need to do something different and change something up?'” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. “That's what you try to do. You're on the offense. I thought we did a nice job just being offensive right away and kind of putting him in a mode that he hasn't been in, really, since he’s been in the big leagues.”

In the fourth, Abbott allowed a leadoff triple to Brian Anderson, but came back to prevent a run by striking out Victor Caratini, Wiemer and Yelich. But Adames made it 6-2 in the fifth with his 14th homer, a two-run shot to left.

“Give the Brewers credit there,” Reds manager David Bell said. “Maybe more than the last few starts, [Abbott] was getting a little bit more of the plate. And the Brewers did a really nice job of getting to his fastball, being on time with the fastball. They did get some hits on the offspeed pitches. But Andrew has such a good fastball, for them to be able to get on top of that pitch, makes it tough for him. I thought they did a nice job.”

Joey Votto’s two-run homer in the fifth accounted for the Reds’ scoring against Corbin Burnes, who allowed only three hits in six innings.

The homer gave Votto 3,645 total bases, moving him past Johnny Bench into second on the Reds all-time list. Pete Rose leads with 4,645. It also was Votto’s 23rd homer at American Family Field, tying him with Andrew McCutchen for most by a visiting player.

It also extended the Reds’ home run streak to 21 consecutive games, matching the franchise high set in 1956.

Votto also doubled in a run in the ninth to make it 7-3. The Reds, who lead the Majors with 32 come-from-behind wins, had the tying run at the plate when All-Star closer Devin Williams walked Tyler Stephenson with two outs. But Williams struck out pinch-hitter Nick Senzel to end the game.

"That's what you've got to do.” Bell said. “Unfortunately, even though we believed it was going to happen there at the end, it doesn't happen every single time. To put yourself in the situation where you have the opportunity of a comeback or to tie it with a swing of the bat, that's really what you're trying to do in those situations."

Bell said his team would put the loss behind them and focus on how they have played recently.

"Our team has been really good at that,” he said. “That's not a concern. For us, it's just coming out and playing hard. [The Brewers are] a good team, we know that. There's no time to really think about it, back tomorrow."