MILWAUKEE (AP) — Milwaukee Brewers manager Craig Counsell juggled his lineup, hoping for a spark. Yasmani Grandal certainly delivered it.
Grandal led off for the first time in his career and homered in his opening at-bat to help the Milwaukee Brewers snap a season-high five-game losing streak with a 6-5 win over the Cincinnati Reds on Saturday.
"We were down 3-0, and the home run just jolted us," Counsell said, adding that Grandal will bat first again Sunday.
Grandal, who had never batted first in 795 career games, put the Brewers ahead 5-4 with an RBI double in the fourth. Two outs later, he scored on Lorenzo Cain's bloop single that chased Reds starter Luis Castillo (7-2).
"I knew I hit it pretty hard, but I didn't think it would be a homer," Grandal said. "I was more worried about not getting thrown out at second by (right fielder Yasiel) Puig."
The Reds tallied three times in the first for the third consecutive game of the series. This time, though, the Brewers answered in their half with four runs, highlighted by Grandal's 17th home run on the second pitch of the game.
"Momentum definitely changed," Grandal said. "It got the offense going."
A fielding and throwing error by José Iglesias on Orlando Arcia's roller with the bases loaded sent two more home. Travis Shaw's RBI groundout capped the scoring.
Derek Dietrich had an RBI triple and Puig hit his 16th home run of the season, a two-run shot, before a slick play and a successful challenge by the Brewers ended the Reds' opening frame.
Second baseman Mike Moustakas snared Iglesias' grounder up the middle and flipped the ball from his glove to shortstop Arcia who fired to first. After a 61-second review, the safe call was overturned.
Counsell said that defensive glove work also helped switch the momentum.
"The play by Moose and Arcia changed the vibe coming into the dugout after the first inning," Counsell said. "Then Yaz leads off with a homer. We put together some really good at-bats after that and got right back in it."
NL MVP Christian Yelich scored a run, but went 0 for 3 to end his career-high hitting streak and the longest in the majors at 18 games.
Matt Albers (4-2) pitched 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief. Adrian Houser handled the seventh. Josh Hader struck out four of the final six outs for his 18th save.
