Brewers, Greinke try to avoid sweep by Reds

Milwaukee right-hander Zach Greinke tries to keep his career mark against Cincinnati unblemished and help the Brewers avoid a three- game sweep at the hands of the Reds this afternoon at Great American Ball Park.

Greinke is 3-0 in five career starts against the Reds with a 2.00 earned run average across 36 innings of work.

He last faced them on May 9 in Milwaukee and emerged with a no-decision after tossing eight innings of scoreless two-hit ball in a game the Brewers ultimately lost, 2-1.

Greinke's walked eight Cincinnati batters and struck out 49 while allowing a paltry opposition batting average of .164.

Overall, Greinke is 5-1 since that last meeting, including a complete-game gem on June 22 against the Chicago White Sox, who managed just three hits and a walk in Milwaukee's 1-0 victory.

Additionally, he is 4-2 in nine road starts in 2012 with a 4.14 ERA.

The Reds took a 2-0 advantage in this series on Tuesday when Drew Stubbs crushed a go-ahead solo home run in the bottom of the eighth inning in a 4-3 victory.

Reds starter Bronson Arroyo fired 7 1/3 innings of no-hit ball before giving up three runs on a walk and three hits in the eighth to tie the game at 3-3.

"Winning the ball game, Stubbs coming back, obviously that's the biggest thing," Arroyo said. "On a personal level, that's definitely irritating to go out there and have five outs left to go in the ball game and a three-run lead and give it up like that."

Sean Marshall (2-3) got the win after recording the final out of the eighth.

Aroldis Chapman worked around a one-out walk and struck out three Brewers in the ninth to record his ninth save of the year, while Jay Bruce belted a three-run blast in the sixth to help the Reds win for the third time in their last four.

John Axford (1-5) absorbed the loss for giving up Stubbs' leadoff blast in the eighth. Corey Hart clubbed a two-run double and Norichika Aoki added a run- scoring base hit for the Brewers, who have lost their last four.

"I thought (Axford) threw the ball great," Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said. "He made one mistake, first pitch and after that he was great."

The Reds enter the finale with a two-game lead over St. Louis in the National League's Central Division and a three-game edge on Pittsburgh.

Milwaukee is fourth, 8 1/2 games off the pace.

Cincinnati starts Texas-born righty Homer Bailey, who's won just once in four starts since a three-start win streak in May. The 26-year-old was beaten, 5-4, by Minnesota in his last outing on June 22, allowing five runs on eight hits in 5 1/3 innings.

He's winless in nine career meetings with the Brewers and last faced them May 8 in Milwaukee, where he gave up six runs on six hits while retiring just 11 batters in the Reds' 8-3 loss.

Bailey is 1-3 in seven home starts this season.

The teams split their 16-game series last season after the Brewers won six of the last seven. In 2012, Cincinnati won two of three in the early May series at Milwaukee's Miller Park.