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Gallardo goes 7, gets win No. 10, Brewers top Reds

The Columbian
Published: August 5, 2012, 5:00pm

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Yovani Gallardo pitched seven innings, and Martin Maldonado homered and drove in three runs to help the Milwaukee Brewers beat the Cincinnati Reds 6-3 Monday night.

Gallardo (10-8) gave up six hits, three walks and one run to equal his longest outing of the season and reach a double-digit win total for the fourth straight year.

Bronson Arroyo (7-7) gave up 10 hits, five walks and five runs in 5 1-3 innings, as the Reds lost for the second straight day after winning 15 of 16. Their last two-game losing “streak” came before the All-Star Break: July 3-4 at the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Gallardo got all the offense he needed on homers by Aramis Ramirez, Corey Hart and Maldonado as part of a fourth-run sixth.

Still, the Brewers’ struggling bullpen made it interesting, again.

The Reds, down 5-1, scored twice in the eighth. Francisco Rodriguez relieved Gallardo in the inning and gave up a single, double and walk to load the bases with one out before being lifted to a smattering of boos from the announced crowd of 31,319.

John Axford then gave up an RBI single to pinch-hitter Xavier Paul and a sacrifice fly to Dioner Navarro — a ball that could have been a double but for a great sliding catch in the gap by Norichika Aoki.

Maldonado added an RBI double in the eighth, scoring Rickie Weeks.

Axford stayed in to pitch a perfect ninth for his 18th save in 25 chances.

Gallardo is 63-42 in his career but has struggled against the Reds. Entering play, he was 4-5 with a 5.06 ERA in 14 starts against Cincinnati, including a 1-2 mark this season. Gallardo was a different pitcher Monday, allowing just one runner past second base before Zack Cozart smacked a one-out home run in the seventh.

Gallardo’s teammates helped him out on defense, too. Aoki robbed Jay Bruce of extra bases in the second, when he leaped against the wall in right to snag a fly ball. And in the fifth, Corey Hart made a full-extension diving catch in foul territory on Arroyo’s sacrifice bunt attempt after Ryan Hanigan walked to lead off the inning.

Arroyo had won his last three starts and was 2-0 with a 2.66 ERA against the Brewers this season. On June 26, he took a no-hitter into the eighth inning but came away with a no decision in a 4-3 Reds victory, retiring 20 straight batters at one point.

This time, Arroyo cruised until the fifth, when Martin Maldonado led with a double off the right-center field wall and scored two batters later on Gallardo’s RBI single.

Arroyo didn’t last through the sixth. With one out, Ramirez made it 2-0 with his 14th home run of the year into the Brewers’ bullpen in left field. Hart followed two pitches later with his 21st homer, a 444-foot blast to the Harley-Davidson seating deck high above the bullpen. Then, after Weeks singled, Maldonado sent a towering fly ball just over the left-field wall and the glove of a leaping Ryan Ludwick. It was Maldonado’s first home run since June 20, a span of 33 games and 108 at-bats.

The Reds had won 15 of their last 17 despite a loss to Pittsburgh on Sunday, came in 4 1-2 games ahead of the Pirates in the NL Central and, at 66-42, were off to their best 108-game start since 1995. They had won nine straight road games.

Milwaukee had just gotten swept in three games at St. Louis, where they were outscored 18-4, dropping the club back to a season-worst 11 games under .500.

NOTES: Before the game, the Brewers recalled shortstop prospect Jean Segura from Double-A Huntsville and inserted him into the starting lineup, batting eighth. Segura, 22, was the top player acquired from the Los Angeles Angels in their deal for Milwaukee right-hander Zack Greinke in July. He took the 25-man roster spot held by shortstop Cesar Izturis, who has been claimed by the Washington Nationals off waivers. … 2B Brandon Phillips returned to the Reds’ lineup Monday after missing the last five games with a strained left calf. . The Brewers have now hit back-to-back- homers five times this season.

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