Cincinnati's Leake battles through 'dead arm' in loss

MILWAUKEE – Mike Leake passed 200 innings on Sunday for the first time in his MLB career and acknowledged that his right arm is fatigued.

"I didn't have the full ability to give a full effort (Sunday). Dead arm can get you," Leake said. "I was trying to find the zone and hit spots but it wasn't easy."

Leake still pitched six innings in the Cincinnati Reds' 9-2 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers. He allowed three runs and eight hits with three walks and three strikeouts.

"It certainly was not his best stuff or, more importantly, his best command," Cincinnati manager Bryan Price said. "He was behind a lot and yanking a lot of pitches off the plate, which doesn't happen very often. He's a strike-thrower, but they made him work."

Matt Clark hit a three-run homer in Milwaukee's five-run seventh inning, and Mark Reynolds added a solo shot in the eighth. Matt Garza (8-8) allowed one run and four hits in six-plus innings.

The Brewers won for the fourth time in five games to remain 1½ back of Pittsburgh for the second wild card in the National League.

Todd Frazier hit his 26th homer in the sixth for Cincinnati, which has lost five of its past six games against Milwaukee.

The Brewers also got a solid performance from Jonathan Lucroy, who reached four times via three hits and a walk. The All-Star catcher had a two-run single in the fourth against Leake (11-12), lifting Milwaukee to a 3-0 lead.

It was 3-1 when Milwaukee put the game away in the seventh. Clark connected for his third homer against Logan Ondrusek. Scooter Gennett had an RBI single and Ryan Braun's bases-loaded walk against Carlos Contreras made it 8-1.

Garza struck out six and walked three. He is 2-0 with a sparkling 0.82 ERA in three starts against Cincinnati this year.

"I thought he did a really good job of making good pitches to the bottom of the zone and he was pitching ahead. He really didn't give us anything to hit," Price said.

The Reds added a run in the ninth on Ryan Ludwick's single.

TRAINER'S ROOM

Reds first baseman Joey Votto, on the disabled list since July with a quad strain, took underhand flips at batting practice. "It's day to day. It's just a progression," Price said. No timetable has been set for Votto's return.

UP NEXT

Alfredo Simon (14-10, 3.48 ERA) will face the Cubs in Chicago on Monday. Simon, who began the season as the fifth starter, has established career highs in starts, wins, losses, strikeouts, quality starts and innings pitched. However, he's struggled since the All-Star break, going 2-7 with a 4.96 ERA.