Reds 12, Brewers 8: Elly's Four RBI End Milwaukee's Streak

September 6, 2026 - Cincinnati - Milwaukee had just tied it. Jake Bauers had gone deep. Brice Turang had doubled two in. Great American Ball Park was 6-6 in the fifth, and the club that has led the NL Central all summer had crawled out of a 4-0 hole.

Elly De La Cruz doubled into center with the bases loaded. Juan Brito scored. Héctor Rodríguez scored. Tyler Stephenson singled another in. 9-6, and the Cincinnati Reds never trailed again. They beat the Milwaukee Brewers 12-8, took a series from Milwaukee at home for the first time since 2022, and ended a nine-series Brewers streak.

Four runs before Milwaukee had a hit

Dane Myers scored on Stephenson's single in the first. In the second, De La Cruz reached on a fielder's choice, Matt McLain scoring on David Hamilton's throwing error. Sal Stewart then hit a sacrifice fly for his 107th RBI, which still leads the majors. 3-0. Brito doubled Eugenio Suárez home in the third. 4-0, and Kyle Harrison had already thrown too many pitches for a game that was supposed to be a division-leader errand.

Milwaukee's first hit did not arrive until the fourth. Christian Yelich walked. Bauers hit his team-leading 24th homer to right-center. 4-2. Garrett Mitchell tripled and scored when Brady Singer threw the ball away on a Cooper Pratt bunt. 4-3. That is how a 4-0 lead becomes a one-run game without the Brewers stringing together anything pretty.

De La Cruz answered in the bottom of the fourth. Two-run homer to right-center, his 23rd, Myers aboard. 6-3. The inning also included a bird landing on the infield grass. Play stopped. De La Cruz hopped out of the dugout and carried it off. The Associated Press wrote it up. The homer is the part that counted.

Singer survived. The fifth almost didn't.

Singer (6-13) had thrown three hitless innings before the fourth. In the fifth he got the first two outs, then walked Jackson Chourio and Bauers. Mitchell singled. Turang doubled both in. 6-6. Singer's line: five innings, four hits, six earned, six walks, three strikeouts, 97 pitches. That is a win only because Cincinnati scored 12.

Luis Mey threw a clean sixth. Brock Burke threw a clean seventh, his 71st appearance, a career high. Graham Ashcraft walked the first two in the eighth in his first game since May 25. Bo Naylor's first hit as a Brewer made it 9-7. Ashcraft struck out Yelich to leave it there.

Cincinnati padded it in the eighth. Rodríguez singled McLain home. Myers reached on Hamilton's fielding error, two more runs scoring. 12-7. Turang singled Bauers home in the ninth. 12-8. The Brewers won a challenge on what would have been a game-ending double play. Emilio Pagán replaced Pierce Johnson with the tying run on deck and retired pinch-hitter Gary Sánchez for his 22nd save.

Antonio Senzatela (10-5) took the loss in relief. Milwaukee used five pitchers and still walked 10. Cincinnati walked 10 too. Twenty walks in one Sunday is a game that never finds a rhythm. It finds crooked numbers instead.

A 69-74 club taking a series from 88-56

The Brewers are 88-56. They still own the Central. They also just lost a series in Cincinnati for the first time in four years. Bauers reached four times (homer, three walks) and scored three runs. Turang had two hits, three RBI, and the double that tied it. Mitchell had two hits and a triple. That is enough offense to win most September games. It was not enough against De La Cruz's four RBI and a Reds lineup that put 14 hits on the board.

Cincinnati is 69-74. Stewart's 107 RBI is the quiet national leader hiding on a club that is not in October. De La Cruz as the DH, 2-for-4, a homer, a double, two walks, four RBI, is the version that makes the Great American crowds loud in September even when the standings are not. Brito went 3-for-4 with three runs. Myers scored three times. The bottom and the top both ate.

The Brewers host the Cubs on Monday. Robert Gasser against Matthew Boyd. The Reds go to Los Angeles. Chase Burns starts. Sunday does not flip the Central. It does remind Milwaukee that a 4-0 hole on the road is not a formality, even in September.

AthX Engine after the baseball

AthX Engine put Cincinnati at 19 team fantasy points, third on the Sunday slate. De La Cruz led the true hitter board at 12 hitting fantasy points. Brito added 9. Singer's six-run line did not help the pitching card, which is why this game lives on the team and hitter boards instead of the starter board. Fantasy points measure the production. Price is a separate market number.

Milwaukee still has the division. Cincinnati has the series. Elly had the afternoon.

Marketplace

*Sources: ESPN box score; CBS Sports / AP recap; MLB.com schedule; AthX Engine daily fantasy points (September 6, 2026 game date). Information only; not financial advice.*