By John Fay
Enquirer staff writer

Reds pitcher Josh Hancock, right, looks on as Milwaukee Brewers' Russell Branyan, left, rounds third base after hitting a three-run home run. (AP Photo/Darren Hauck)

MILWAUKEE - When the Reds' young starting pitchers were putting together a string of good starts, there was talk about how success is contagious.

So, apparently, is failure.

Josh Hancock allowed seven runs (six earned) over three innings as the Milwaukee Brewers beat the Reds 7-3.

"The two three-run homers did him in," Reds manager Dave Miley said. "He got behind hitters and threw a lot of pitches. He obviously wasn't sharp."

Hancock gave up a three-run shot to former Red Russell Branyan in the third and a three-run homer to Keith Ginter in the fourth.

Hancock was not entirely to blame for this loss. The Reds managed only two runs off Milwaukee starter Ben Hendrickson, who won for the first time as a big-leaguer.

The Reds have lost five straight and seven of eight. In the five straight losses, they've been outscored 46-12.

"We're going through a rough stretch," Miley said. "We're not scoring runs."

The Reds left 11 runners on base and were 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position.

It was the first time in 51 games the Brewers took two straight from the same team.

There's a month of baseball left to play, but the Reds are officially out of the National League Central race. Their loss and St. Louis' win put the Reds 28 1/2 games out with 28 games to play.

The reason for the recent rough patch has been starting pitching. Over the last five starts - one full turn of the rotation - the Reds' starters have a 12.27 ERA and no quality starts.

The bad stretch follows a good one: The Reds had strung together six straight quality starts before things went bad.

Like Brandon Claussen, who got beat around Friday night, Hancock came into his start on an impressive run. Hancock was 1-0 with a 1.92 ERA over his last three starts.

But he struggled with his control from the start.

He allowed a run in the first and then left the bases loaded in the second.

In the third, the first two hitters reached on a hit and a Felipe Lopez error. That brought Branyan to the plate. Hancock had struck him out on three pitches to end the first. This time, Branyan jumped on the first pitch and hit it well up into the right-field seats for his fifth home run of the year. It was Branyan's first homer in 41 at-bats.

Hancock got out of the inning without further damage despite two more walks. But his pitch count was at 83 by the inning's end.

Austin Kearns made it 4-1 in the fourth with his second home run in as many nights. Against Hendrickson, 0-6 with a 7.66 ERA, a three-run lead with five innings to play didn't look too bad.

It didn't stay a three-run game long. Hancock gave up back-to-back singles to start the fourth. Ginter then hit the first pitch to him out to left-center for his 12th home run. It was 7-1, and Hancock was done.

"We had chances," Miley said. "We couldn't come up with a big hit."

Cincinnati	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Freel cf-2b	5	0	0	0	0	1	.270
JCastro 3b	5	0	2	0	0	1	.246
Casey 1b	5	0	2	0	0	0	.333
Dunn lf	4	0	1	1	1	3	.269
Djimenez 2b	3	0	1	0	1	1	.256
MMatthews p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Larkin ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.300
Kearns rf-cf	4	1	1	1	0	1	.232
FLopez ss	4	0	1	0	0	1	.250
Valentin c	3	0	1	0	1	1	.220
Hancock p	1	0	0	0	0	1	.111
PNorton p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Bragg ph	1	1	1	0	0	0	.200
JoAcevedo p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.050
Vander Wal ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.130
Padilla p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
JaCruz rf	1	1	0	0	0	0	.234
Totals	38	3	10	2	3	10

Milwaukee	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Podsednik cf	3	1	1	0	2	2	.255
Krynzel rf	5	0	1	0	0	4	.143
Overbay 1b	4	1	2	0	1	1	.315
Jenkins lf	5	2	3	1	0	0	.263
KGinter 2b	4	2	1	3	1	0	.250
Branyan 3b	5	1	2	3	0	3	.253
Moeller c	3	0	0	0	2	1	.215
Counsell ss	3	0	0	0	2	0	.235
Hendrickson p	2	0	0	0	0	1	.091
Kieschnick p	1	0	1	0	0	0	.314
LVizcaino p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
JBennett p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Kolb p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Totals	35	7	11	7	8	12

Cincinnati	000	110	001	-3	10	1
Milwaukee	103	300	00x	-7	11	2

E-FLopez (10), KGinter (6), Counsell (8). LOB-Cincinnati 11, Milwaukee 13. 2B-JCastro (20), FLopez (12), Valentin (9), Overbay (43), Branyan (7). HR-KGinter (13), off Hancock; Kearns (5), off Hendrickson; Branyan (7), off Hancock. RBIs-Dunn (84), Kearns (18), Jenkins (75), KGinter 3 (43), Branyan 3 (19). SB-Podsednik 2 (53), Counsell (14). S-Hendrickson.

Cincinnati	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Hancock L, 3-2	3	8	7	6	5	4	91	6.03
PNorton	1	0	0	0	1	2	13	5.19
JoAcevedo	1	0	0	0	0	3	19	5.94
Padilla	1 2/3	3	0	0	1	2	34	0.00
MMatthews	1 1/3	0	0	0	1	1	24	8.24

Milwaukee	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Hendrickson W, 1-6	6	7	2	2	3	7	95	6.75
Kieschnick	1	1	0	0	0	1	18	3.69
LVizcaino	1	0	0	0	0	1	12	4.03
JBennett	2/3	2	1	0	0	1	18	4.66
Kolb S, 36	1/3	0	0	0	0	0	4	2.49

Hancock pitched to 3 batters in the 4th.

Inherited runners-scored-MMatthews 2-0, Kolb 2-0.

WP-Hancock 2.

T-3:19. A-26,059 (41,900).

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