Brewers 1, Reds 0: Rhys Hoskins, Tobias Myers steal the show (2024)

One swing of the bat was all the Milwaukee Brewers needed on Saturday night.

Rhys Hoskins hit a solo home run with two outs in the eighth inning to break a scoreless tie, a shot that ultimately delivered a 1-0 victory over the Cincinnati Reds at American Family Field.

It was one of only two hits in the game for the Brewers, who had pounded the ball with impunity the previous four games. They improved to a season-best 18 games over .500 at 67-49 and tied their season high for consecutive wins with five.

"We're not always going to score eight," said closer Devin Williams, who recorded his first save of the season behind the dynamite Tobias Myers and Joel Payamps. "But that's baseball. We've got to win in a multitude of ways, and today was a different kind of game for us."

Milwaukee's eight-game lead in the National League Central Division standings is its largest of the season, and tied for the largest in baseball with the Philadelphia Phillies.

More: Box score | MLB standings | Brewers schedule

More: A Brewers pitcher traded a T-shirt for a cookie when the team surprised tailgaters in the parking lots ahead of Saturday's game

"One of the biggest things is just, the confidence that we have as a group," said Hoskins. "We're in games. There's not been that many games this year where it's been a laugher for us. You can grab confidence from that, even when things aren't going well in the first half of a game.

"With our bullpen and our staff, we can find a way to scratch a couple runs off in an inning and be right back in a game, or take over a game. There's a lot of confidence in that. Especially for a young team and trying to figure things out as we go through a season.

"But we feel like we can win any game at any point."

It was Milwaukee's first win with two or fewer hits since beating the Chicago Cubs, 2-1, on June 29, 2021.

Rhys Hoskins delivers

Reds starter Nick Martinez was dominant in his seven innings, limiting the Brewers to just one hit and two baserunners with seven strikeouts.

"In my opinion, he's always been pretty nasty. Obviously, he was really nasty tonight," said Hoskins. "He just kept us off-balance. Really, really good mix of pitches. One of the better changeups in the game, but he kind of uses that to his advantage in order to get guys at the top of the zone.

"He did a lot tonight. Just not enough."

Indeed, with Martinez's pitch count sitting at 94, Cincinnati manager David Bell replaced him with Tony Santillan in the eighth. The right-hander retired the first two batters he faced before Hoskins turned on a 97-mph fastball out over the plate and sent it out to left for his 20th homer of the season.

Watch Rhys Hoskins' home run

Rhys Hoskins post-game on his eighth-inning home run

"I think the situation in the game is what makes it good, right?" said Hoskins, who also extended his hitting streak to a career-high 14 games with his blast. "It's a good win. That's a game that you win where you don't necessarily feel like you will win it, just because of just how good of a job Martinez did.

"Zero-zero going into the eighth, anything can happen there. Yeah, I think the situation in the game there calls for feeling pretty good."

Myers's pitch count sat at 94 heading into the eighth, yet manager Pat Murphy gave him the opportunity for his third eight-inning start of the season.

Ty France opened with a single, then Myers got a flyout to deep center before making way for Payamps to a standing ovation. Payamps (2-5) then got a strikeout and groundout to strand the runner at first, continuing his standout work of late (0.96 ERA in his last 11 appearances).

In 7 ⅓ innings and 99 pitches, Myers scattered three hits, didn't walk a batter and struck out nine. His season ERA dropped to 2.79, and 1.75 over his last 11 starts.

"You want to talk about perseverance, relentless, discipline? That's Tobias," said Murphy. "It's been an amazing story. Young, hungry. That's what it's about."

The Brewers' offense, meanwhile, gained just its second baserunner of the game when Gary Sánchez was hit in the right hand by a pitch from Martinez with one out in the seventh.

He was replaced at first base by Blake Perkins, who was thrown out trying to steal second with Murphy's replay challenge ultimately proving unsuccessful. William Contreras then grounded out to send the scoreless game to the eighth.

Myers entered the night with a career high six strikeouts, achieved five separate times this season.

But after striking out the side in the first, it was apparent he would be in line for a new high-water mark that Myers reached when he caught Elly De La Cruz looking at a called third strike to open the fourth inning.

Myers followed up with a punchout of Tyler Stephenson, leaving him with eight for the game.

Key to his performance was a fastball that had more life on it than usual; Myers topped out at 96.2 mph compared to the 92.8 he had been averaging coming into the night.

"I felt like I had everything going tonight," Myers said. "It was one of the first times I felt like I had that, so it was a pretty good feeling. Just put all my trust in William, and whatever he called just try to execute it the best I can.

"I think what I realized was being very aggressive when I was going good. Then the last couple I felt a little out of sync. Just tried to get back to being aggressive and going right at the hitters.

Cincinnati managed one hit through six innings – a two-out single by TJ Friedl in the fourth – while Milwaukee didn't collect its first knock until Sánchez singled off Martinez with two outs in the fourth.

Brewers time, TV, radio

The Brewers game starts at 6:10 p.m. CT.

TV: Bally Sports Wisconsin. Radio: AM-620 and a state network.

Brewers lineup

• Brice Turang 2B

• Jackson Chourio LF

• Gary Sánchez DH

• William Contreras C

• Willy Adames SS

• Sal Frelick RF

• Rhys Hoskins 1B

• Garrett Mitchell CF

• Joey Ortiz 3B

Reds lineup

• Jonathan India 2B

• Elly De La Cruz SS

• Tyler Stephenson C

• TJ Friedl CF

• Spencer Steer LF

• Jeimer Candelario 1B

• Ty France DH

• Jake Fraley RF

• Noelvi Marte 3B

Brewers schedule

Brewers vs. Reds, 1:10 p.m. Sunday.Milwaukee TBA vs. Cincinnati LHP Nick Lodolo (9-4, 3.93). Broadcasts: TV – Bally Sports Wisconsin. Radio – AM-620.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Brewers 1, Reds 0: Rhys Hoskins, Tobias Myers steal the show