Reds Eliminated from Postseason with Loss

Bronson Arroyo has never missed a start because of an injury and he certainly has no plans to skip one because he fears infamy.

During a 6-3 Reds loss to the Brewers that mathematically eliminated Cincinnati from postseason play, Arroyo gave up four of Milwaukee's five home runs in the game. It gave him 44 homers allowed in 2011, smashing Eric Milton's 2005 club record of 40.

With two starts left, Arroyo could challenge Hall of Famer Bert Blyleven's Major League record of 50 homers allowed, set in 1986, or Jose Lima's National League record of 48 from 2000. Currently, Arroyo's season total is tied with Jamie Moyer (2004) for fifth on the all-time list.

Arroyo certainly doesn't want to own a record like this, but on the other hand ...

"I don't want to cower from some [stuff] like that either," Arroyo said. "At the end of the day, anybody can be beat. I feel like the only way you can lose, really, is to lose heart. You go out there and leave your guts on the field, and what happens, happens. To go out and try to not give up four or five more homers the rest of the season in two outings -- that would never be my thought process. If that was their thought process, and they wanted to implement that, it would be on them."

Manager Dusty Baker hadn't considered the option as of yet.

"I don't know," Baker said. "We've got a couple of guys getting close to records. I doubt if he'd want [to avoid it] that way."

Of the five hits Arroyo gave up over 6 1/3 innings, four were home runs, and they accounted for all five of the runs on his line. He also walked three and struck out two.

"I never really felt settled in to tell you the truth throughout the ballgame," Arroyo said. "I'm fighting a few things. I was fighting trying to throw the sinker on the inner half. I was missing a lot with that. I was getting behind guys. I couldn't throw a changeup for strikes."

The Reds had a 1-0 lead on Brewers starter Randy Wolf in the first inning after Dave Sappelt hit a one-out double and scored on Joey Votto's RBI single lined to right field. A strong diving stop by second baseman Rickie Weeks for an inning-ending fielder's choice on Miguel Cairo saved more runs from scoring.

Prince Fielder started the home run parade in the second inning when he led off by taking a 3-1 Arroyo pitch deep to right field to tie the game. In the third inning following a two-out walk to Nyjer Morgan, Mark Kotsay crushed the first pitch to center field for a two-run homer. On the very next pitch, Ryan Braun went to the opposite field and made it back-to-back homers.

Arroyo put together three scoreless innings until the seventh before George Kottaras led off with a homer to right field. It marked the sixth time this season that Arroyo has allowed at least three homers in a game and the second time he gave up four.

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