Hart, Fielder homer, Hoffman earns save in Brewers’ 3-2 win over Reds

Hart, Fielder homer in Brewers’ 3-2 win

MILWAUKEE — Corey Hart and Prince Fielder homered and Braden Looper outpitched Johnny Cueto to lead the Milwaukee Brewers to a 3-2 victory over Cincinnati on Friday night, snapping the Reds’ four-game winning streak.

The Brewers, who had hit .204 with just two homers while going 1-5 in their last six games, only got three hits, but two of them left the ballpark. Hart’s go-ahead homer came in the seventh inning came after Fielder hit a two-run shot in the first.

Looper (5-3) and Cueto were sharp, matching zeros and mistakes until Hart’s hit.

Hart, hitting .176 in his previous 17 games, drove Cueto’s pitch 435 feet over the Milwaukee bullpen and just below the motorcycles that sit in left-center field.

That was all Milwaukee needed.

Brewers reliever Todd Coffey worked around consecutive singles to start the eighth after a nice double play by second baseman Craig Counsell and Trevor Hoffman allowed a two-out single, but recorded his 12th consecutive save since joining the Brewers.

Reds right fielder Jay Bruce, who went 0 for 4 and struck out to end the game, said before the trip began that Cincinnati would return home with the NL Central lead after the seven-game trip to Milwaukee and St. Louis. The Reds began the day 1½ games back and didn’t get off to a good start.

Cueto (4-3) walked Ryan Braun with two outs in the first inning before Fielder’s homer gave Milwaukee the early lead, but Cincinnati tied it when Looper walked Ryan Hanigan with two outs in the fourth before Ramon Hernandez’s two-run shot.

Both pitchers settled down and Cueto retired 10 straight until Braun doubled to leadoff the sixth.

Braun advanced to third on a pop out by Fielder, but was thrown out at the plate trying to score off Mike Cameron’s liner to left when former Brewer Laynce Nix threw a one-hop strike to Hanigan, the catcher.

Hanigan had come into the game for Joey Votto, who left in the second inning as he struggles with an inner ear infection. Cueto left after the seventh, scattering three hits and four walks while striking out three.

Looper didn’t allow a hit after Hernandez’s blast, but left after the seventh with the game still tied despite allowing just two hits and two walks. Hart put Looper in line for the win moments later, and Coffey and Hoffman sealed it.