Brewers lose both games of first doubleheader at Miller Park

Milwaukee played the first doubleheader in Miller Park history Thursday and it was not memorable in a good way.

Backed by a lights out effort by Sonny Gray, Cincinnati took the first game 6-1. Almost every team has struggled against Gray this year, so the performance could be forgiven. But in Game 2, the Reds turned to former Brewers pitcher Wade Miley. He had given up nine runs in 8.1 innings this year. All he did against Milwaukee was go four innings and allow just one hit in what was a 6-0 win for the visitors.

In both games, the Brewers fell behind early. The Reds had a 3-0 lead after three innings in Game 1 and a 2-0 lead after two innings in the second game. Milwaukee’s opponents have now scored first in 23 of the 30 games this year and the Crew is being outscored 40-6 in the first two innings of games.

Milwaukee’s offense was its typical anemic self. The Brewers ranked 28th in MLB in runs per game (3.96) coming in and did themselves no favors by scoring a combined one run over 14 innings.

Manager Craig Counsell had seen enough by the fourth inning of the second game, as he was ejected for arguing ball and strikes with the home plate umpire.

The Brewers were playing a doubleheader after postponing Wednesday night’s game in an effort to show support for the nationwide push for racial equality and social justice reform. While five other teams joined them Wednesday, another 14 sat out Thursday night games. The NBA, MLS and the WNBA also postponed games Thursday, while nine NFL teams did not hold practice.

Milwaukee will now welcome Pittsburgh to town for a four-game series starting Friday night. The Pirates, who own the worst record in baseball, swept the Brewers last weekend.