This is what it took to end the losing, and the Milwaukee Brewers had no complaints.
With the home team in desperate need of a feel-good moment, Cincinnati reliever Tim Adleman uncorked a wild pitch with two outs in the bottom of the 10th and the bases loaded Saturday night at Miller Park. And on a 0-2 pitch to Ryan Braun, no less.
Eric Sogard scooted home, sliding in headfirst ahead of the tagto give the Brewersa badly needed 6-5 victory over the Cincinnati Reds.
The Brewers had lost six in a row for the second time since the all-star break and were 9-18 overall during that stretch, going from 5 1/2 games on top in the NL Central to three games out and tied for third. A slumbering offense had broken through for 10 runs the previous evening, only to lose, 11-10.
"We needed that," said Eric Thames, who once again homered against the Reds, his record 10th against them this season. "It felt good to celebrate. Walk-offs are so much fun. It doesn't matter if it's a home run or wild pitch."
Manager Craig Counsell gave credit to Sogard, who opened the rally with a booming double to left-center for being alert enough to score on the 0-2 breaking ball that didn't get that far away from catcher Tucker Barnhart, who came on when starter Devin Mesoraco was ejected in the top of the inning.
"As much as we like walk-off hits, that was walk-off base running," Counsell said. "That was great base running. That was not an obvious ball to go on. It was because he got a great read with two outs and two strikes, and he scored.
"You could tell by the celebration we had that we needed it. We still enjoyed every single bit of it."
Sogard, whose job may or may not be in jeopardy after the Brewers announced after the game they had traded for New York Mets second baseman Neil Walker, said he actually anticipated a wild pitch with Adleman wanting to see if Braun would chase a 0-2 pitch off the plate.
"I thought that anything that came close to the grass (in foul territory), I would give it a shot," he said. "Especially on 0-2, I'm looking for that. I was looking for a curveball in the dirt."
WALKER:Brewers acquire second basemanfrom Mets
BOX SCORE:Brewers 6, Reds 5 (10 innings)
MLB:Live scoreboard, box scores, standings, schedules
Sogard said the worm actually began to turn for the Brewers on Friday night, when they lost the shootout with the Reds but finally broke loose on offense.
"It started last night with that comeback," he said. "That was more like the old us. Tonight, we continued to battle away."
The Brewers had some work to do because starter Brent Suter struggled, giving up three homers and five runs in only five innings of work. It started with two outs in the first whenJoey Votto walked and Adam Duvall jumped on a two-strike pitch and drove it out to left for a two-run homer.
Suter walked the next two hitters before finally getting out of the inning, having thrown 38 pitches.
But Reds starter Scott Feldman also had issues in the first. Jonathan Villar led off with an opposite-field double over Duvall in left. With two down, Braun walked and Travis Shaw crushed a 3-1 cutter out to right for a three-run homer that put the Brewers on top, 3-2.
Not only did Duvall deliver the Reds’ first two runs, he helped prevent the Brewers from scoring one in the third. Thames tried to score from second base on Domingo Santana’s two-out single to left but Duvall threw him out, with Mesoraco making a nice play on the other end.
The long ball continued to hurt Suter as the Reds went back on top. No 8 hitter Patrick Kivlehan lined a two-run shot off the left-field foul pole with two down in the fourth, and Zack Cozart ripped an opposite-field shot to right-center with one down in the fifth to make it 5-3.
In Suter'sfirst five starts after taking over for injured Chase Anderson in the rotation, he posted a 1.50 earned run average. In three starts since, he has an 8.16 ERA.
Feldman, who had just returned from the disabled list, was lifted after four innings and replaced by Kevin Shackelford. With one down in the fifth,Braun drilled a home run to center, his 40th career blast against the Reds, to make it a one-run game.
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In the sixth, Thames did what he always seems to do against Cincinnati – hit a home run. He blasted a two-out, opposite-field shot to left to make it a 5-5 game and make him the first Brewers player ever to hit 10 home runs in a season against one team.
The Brewers' bullpen played a big role in the victory, with rookie Josh Hader pitching threescoreless innings and closer Corey Knebel chipping in with two.
"Tonight was about the offense and the bullpen," Suter said. "Everybody picked me up."
BEHIND THE BOX SCORE
• C Stephen Vogt (sprained knee) caught five innings in his second rehab game for Class A Wisconsin. He threw out two runners and went 1-for-3 with a RBI double.
• Shaw had an at-bat in the fifth that brought tears to your eyes. He fouled one pitch off the top of his right foot and had to be attended to by athletic trainer Dan Wright. Two pitches later, he smoked a ball off his left leg, just below the knee and went down to the ground for some time, again attended to by Wright. Shaw completed the painful at-bat by striking out and later departed for a pinch-runner. Counsell said Shaw is a "question mark" for the game Sunday.
STAT SHEET
• Shaw (25) and Thames (27) are only the third left-handed duo in Brewers history with at least 25 home runs each in a season. The others were Cecil Cooper and Ben Oglivie (in both 1980 and 1982), and Geoff Jenkins and Jeromy Burnitz (2000).
TAKEAWAY
The Brewers couldn't afford a second straight defeat to the last-place Reds, especially after finally breaking through for 10 runs the previous evening and still losing. And walk-off victories always feel special, even if the other team basically gives away the game.
RECORD
This year: 60-59 (32-30 home; 28-29 away)
Last year: 52-67
ATTENDANCE
Saturday: 38,256
2017 total: 1,908,823 (30,787 avg.)
Last year: 1,798,310 (29,005 avg.)
NEXT GAME
Sunday: Brewers vs. Reds, 1:10 p.m. Milwaukee RHP Matt Garza (5-6, 4.34) vs. Cincinnati RHP Sal Romano (2-4, 5.35) TV: FS Wisconsin. Radio: AM-620.
