Milwaukee Brewers at Cincinnati Reds

Garcia homers, Brewers beat Reds 5-1 for 5th straight win

The NL Central-leading Brewers were coming off a four-game sweep of Arizona and have won 10 of their last 11.

Cincinnati lost after completing a four-game sweep in St. Louis over the weekend.

Adrian Houser (4-5) pitched 5 1/3 innings of one-run ball, and the Brewers bullpen shut down Cincinnati the rest of the way.

Houser stranded Reds runners the first three innings, then gave up only an infield single and a walk before departing with one out in the sixth.

“I didn’t have the best command of the fastball and sinker early on,” he said. “I got a couple big outs with guys on base and was able to settle in and get some of the command back.”

Reds starter Sonny Gray sailed through three innings, giving up two hits and striking out five, before experiencing groin tightness warming up for the fourth.

Gray will have an MRI on Wednesday to determine the extent of the groin injury.

“I’ve never felt this before,” he said. “I don’t think it’s bad, bad, bad.”

Sean Doolittle relieved Gray, and Garcia hit his second pitch into the left-field seats for his 12th homer.

“When Gray goes out of the game, we caught a break — no question,” Milwaukee manager Craig Counsell said. “He's a tough customer. The guy who comes in the game, he’s unprepared. No one can be prepared for that. Avi got him right away.”

The Brewers pushed across another run in the fifth when Luis Urias walked, advanced to third on a pair of wild pitches by Ryan Hendrix (2-1) and scored on a double-play grounder.

Garcia drove in another run with a bases-loaded infield single in the seventh, and Travis Shaw — who was hitting .191 — added to the lead with a two-run double in the Brewers ninth.

“It felt good to see that ball hit the ground — finally,” Shaw said.

Shogo Akiyama drove in the Reds' only run with a second-inning single.

HIURA OUT, PETERSON IN

Struggling at the plate, INF Keston Hiura was demoted to Triple-A Nashville for the second time this season. INF/OF Jace Peterson took his place on the roster.

JOEY'S BACK

Joey Votto was activated from the injured list just before the game and started at first base for the Reds. He missed 28 games after breaking his left thumb was broken when he was hit by a pitch May 5. He was 0 for 2 and walked twice.

STAT OF THE DAY

The Brewers are 29-15 this season when hitting at least one home run. Without a long ball, they are 5-11.

TRAINER'S ROOM

Brewers: 2B Kolten Wong (strained left oblique) is throwing but has yet to start swinging the bat again, Counsell said. Wong left Thursday's game and was put on the 10-day injured list the next day. “As we get the end of the week, we'll probably have a little better idea of where we're at,” Counsell said.

Reds: CF Tyler Naquin, who exited Sunday's game with a tight left hamstring, didn't start but entered in the fifth as part of a double-switch replacing Akiyama. ... RHP Michael Feliz (right elbow) went on the 10-day injured list retroactive to Monday. ... RHP Michael Lorenzen (shoulder), who hasn't pitched this season, says he could be back by the end of June.

UP NEXT

LHP Brett Anderson (2-3) goes for the Brewers against Reds RHP Vladimir Gutierrez (1-1) on Wednesday night. Anderson allowed three earned runs on eight hits in 4 1/3 innings Thursday in a no-decision against the Diamondbacks. Gutierrez earned his first big league win on Thursday, allowing two earned runs in five innings against the Cardinals.

Follow Mitch Stacy at http://twitter.com/mitchstacy

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