Bruce, Reds continue set with Brewers
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}(SportsNetwork.com) - Jay Bruce hopes to have gotten both himself and the Cincinnati Reds back on track.
Bruce and the Reds try to secure a second victory in a row on Tuesday night in the middle contest of a three-game series with the Milwaukee Brewers.
The 28-year-old Bruce had gone 0-for-14 with nine strikeouts since hitting a grand slam last Tuesday versus Milwaukee, but keyed an early surge for Cincinnati in last night's 9-6 win.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Bruce hit a two-run homer during a four-run second inning and reached base four times while ending with three RBI.
"It's nice for Jay to have good at-bats," said Reds manager Bryan Price. "He took some tough pitches. He just looked very comfortable at the plate."
Todd Frazier, who drew an inning-opening walk right before Bruce's home run, and Brayan Pena also reached base four times to help Cincinnati snap a three- game slide. Jason Marquis got the win after scattering two runs and logging eight innings of work for the first time since May 8, 2013.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}His counterpart, Jimmy Nelson, struggled in allowing seven runs and a career- high five walks over just 2 1/3 innings.
"He wasn't commanding the ball like he has the other outings. He started out OK, then Frazier came up and for whatever reason he just lost his command," Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said of Nelson.
Jean Segura had two hits and drove in three runs in defeat. He smacked a two- run single in the ninth inning as Milwaukee plated four runs and had the tying run at the plate in pinch-hitter Ryan Braun, but he struck out to end the game.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Milwaukee was coming off a win over St. Louis, but was denied its first winning streak of the season and fell to 4-16 on the year.
Tonight's starter Kyle Lohse has one of Milwaukee's four wins and it came last Thursday versus Cincinnati.
The right-hander went into the outing 0-3 with a 10.34 earned run average, but limited the Reds to a pair of runs over seven frames to lower his ERA to 7.94. He yielded three hits and one walk, improving to 8-5 with a 2.69 ERA in 21 career matchups with Cincinnati.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Johnny Cueto counters for the Reds and also is coming off his first win of 2015.
Cueto threw a career-high 125 pitches in a 2-1 win over Milwaukee on Wednesday, striking out eight over eight innings of one-run ball. That improved the righty to 1-2 with a 1.86 ERA this year and he has gone at least seven innings in all four starts while striking out 32 over 29 innings.
Cueto is 8-3 with a 2.92 ERA in 17 starts versus Milwaukee.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Cincinnati took three of four from the Brewers earlier in the year.