Brewers win 9-1, look ready for season in second-to-last exhibition game

MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN - MARCH 23: Luis Rengifo #13 of the Milwaukee Brewers reacts in front of Elly de la Cruz #44 of the Cincinnati Reds after hitting a double in the second inning against the Cincinnati Reds during the exhibition game at American Family Field on March 23, 2026 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by John Fisher/Getty Images) | Getty Images Box Score 29 down, one to go for the Brewers’ spring season. The Milwaukee bullpen combined for a gem and the bats looked ready for primetime as the Brewers thoroughly defeated the Reds, 9-1, on Monday night at American Family Field in Milwaukee.

It was the first of two final tune-up games against the Reds before the Brewers open the season against the White Sox on Thursday. Aaron Ashby started this game but didn’t make it out of the first inning. Clearly on a pitch count, he was pulled with two on and two out in the first after 26 pitches—he’d walked two, struck out one, and gotten Elly De La Cruz to fly out.

Blake Holub came out of the pen and struck out Eugenio Suárez to end the inning. After Ashby’s mild hiccup in the first, the rest of the Brewers’ projected opening day bullpen mostly mowed down the Reds. Holub had a nice outing as he pitched a perfect second inning as well, and then literally every other pitcher (in addition to Ashby) that is expected to make the team’s bullpen pitched an inning.

Six of those seven innings were scoreless. The only blemish was during Easton McGee’s inning, when TJ Friedl doubled and then scored on a Ke’Bryan Hayes single. Otherwise, DL Hall, Jared Koenig, Grant Anderson, Abner Uribe, Ángel Zerpa, and Trevor Megill combined for six shutout innings with only two hits allowed, two walks, and four strikeouts.