Reds rattle Crew with 8-run inning, Votto’s hot bat

MILWAUKEE — In baseball, there are insurance runs, and then there’s the Reds’ sixth inning on Saturday night at Miller Park.

En route to beating the Brewers, 11-5, Cincinnati posted eight runs in a decisive sixth, putting its first seven batters on base before recording an out. Highlighted by Eugenio Suarez’s three-run homer off Michael Blazek, the Reds tied their season high for runs in an inning as 12 batters came to the plate.

“They don’t happen often in this sport, eight runs and going from a 1-0 game to a 9-0 game,” Reds manager Bryan Price said. “That was really big. And we had to weather some storms after that. We weren’t mowing them down after that. They came on themselves and swung the bat well, hit some homers and hit some balls really well. We never felt like we had really secured the game completely until the last out.”

The Reds’ outburst marked a rare blemish for Brewers starter Zach Davies, who had allowed 10 earned runs over his last six starts but yielded five runs over five innings Saturday.

“It went pretty smoothly in the first five being able to keep them off-balance, but then the sixth inning came around and it kind of fell apart,” Davies said.

Joey Votto remained otherwordly at the dish with a 4-for-5 performance that included two doubles and two RBIs. The first baseman’s .506 OBP since June 1 ranks first in the Major Leagues. For the Brewers, Scooter Gennett also tallied a four-hit night, matching his career high.

Dan Straily dipped out of trouble for most of the night, giving up two runs while scattering 10 hits over 5 2/3 innings to improve to 4-0 with a 2.13 ERA over his last six starts. Since the All-Star break, the Reds have won each of those six starts.

MOMENTS THAT MATTEREDAfter botched bunt, Suarez goes deep: The Reds’ big rally had already collected two runs when Suarez tried to squeeze bunt with runners on the corners. But it didn’t work as Suarez fouled off the attempt as Brandon Phillips bolted for home. That proved to be good for the Reds as two pitches later, Suarez slugged Blazek’s 2-1 pitch for the three-run homer to left field — his 19th long ball of the season. It turned out that the squeeze bunt wasn’t supposed to be on.

“It was a miscommunication,” Price said. “I’m sending signs to Billy [Hatcher, third-base coach], who is in turn giving them to the hitters. We just wanted them to think there was a chance we could squeeze. We weren’t trying to squeeze there. I think I inadvertently put the squeeze on, and Billy saw it and everyone got the sign. With nobody out in that situation, …

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