Reds 6, Brewers 2: Brandon Phillips had three hits and scored two runs, and Johnny Cueto struck out 10 in eight innings as visiting Cincinnati took a 2-1 lead in the four-game series.

Cueto (3-2), who came in leading the majors in ERA (1.15), allowed two runs and three hits while walking one. Brayan Pena had two hits and two RBIs and Todd Frazier and Ryan Ludwick also had two hits.

Brewers starter Yovani Gallardo (2-2) went six innings, allowing four runs and nine hits with just one strikeout. Aramis Ramirez and Mark Reynolds hit solo homers to account for the only runs for the Brewers.

Ramirez ended a career-long 0-for-28 skid with a solo home run to lead off the second and give the Brewers a 1-0 lead. Gallardo retired 10 of the first 11 hitters before giving up back-to-back singles to Phillips and Jay Bruce in the fourth, followed by a hit batter and RBI singles by Ludwick and Pena for Cincinnati's 3-1 lead.

The Brewers added another run on a leadoff homer by Reynolds in the fifth, but Cueto helped himself with an RBI single in the sixth to push the lead back to two runs. The Reds added a pair of insurance runs in the seventh when Frazier doubled in a run and later scored on a wild pitch for a 6-2 lead.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Brewers OF Ryan Braun, the 2011 NL MVP, was placed on the 15-day disabled list Saturday with a strained oblique. Braun missed his seventh straight game with the ailment. … Ramirez’s home run was his fifth off Cueto in his career, the most against any pitcher. … Cueto has seven straight starts of at least seven innings pitched with two or fewer runs allowed this season, joining Fernando Valenzuela of the Los Angeles Dodgers (1981) as the only players to accomplish that streak.