Reds, Belisle victimized by Brewers sub

Belisle, who gave up five earned runs in the Reds 5-2 loss to the Brewers, had just come out of the shower and went to his locker. That's when a finger on his pitching hand got pinched behind a chair.

"Unbelievable," Belisle said about the non-serious injury and the outcome of his start that preceded it.

The real pain for the right-hander came courtesy of a Brewers rookie named Joe Dillon. The 27-year-old journeyman, who spent a decade in the Minors and last season in Japan, had a pair of two-run doubles for a four-RBI day.

"Dillon hit two two-run doubles, but it was the way I got to Dillon that got me," said Belisle, who pitched six innings and allowed six hits with two walks while tying a career high with nine strikeouts.

In the third, Rickie Weeks got on with a two-out walk. Craig Counsell hit a single before Dillon drove both of them in with a double that went through the gap and to the right-field fence.

"I'm just glad somebody put the ball in play after the first two innings," Brewers manager Ned Yost said. "Belisle was dead-on. He was really making his pitches."

With two outs in the fifth and two strikes, Belisle plunked Counsell on the foot before Dillon hit his second two-run double to the right-field corner. Prince Fielder followed with an RBI single, making it a five-run game.

Belisle didn't think he hit Counsell with the pitch.

"I looked at the video. It was so close," Belisle said. "That's what set that thing up. It makes me want to puke.

"It's not that I'm not handling games. It's situations. It's pitches. Dillon had two two-run doubles off me. I can't do anything about Counsell getting hit. It nicked him. It's about making pitches after that, once things go haywire with men on base. Dillon had my number."

The Reds totaled 11 hits Sunday but were held scoreless for seven innings by Villanueva (8-4), who gave up six hits with three walks and four strikeouts.

The lineup got to the Brewers bullpen with two eighth-inning runs. Jeff Keppinger hit a leadoff single off Matt Wise and went to third on Brandon Phillips' double. Adam Dunn's groundout scored Keppinger. A two-out single by Edwin Encarnacion against Brian Shouse added another run.

After Joey Votto singled off Shouse, Brewers closer Francisco Cordero struck out four of the five batters he faced for his 43rd save.

After sweeping three games from the Cardinals at home, the Reds missed a chance to play National League Central spoiler to Milwaukee by dropping the last two games of the three-game series. Second-place Milwaukee remained one game behind the first-place Cubs. The Reds head to the Chicago for the next three games.

In the two losses to the Brewers, Cincinnati stranded a combined 20 runners on base.

"They made their hits count, and we didn't," Reds interim manager Pete Mackanin said.

It was Belisle's first loss in five starts since returning from Triple-A Louisville. The runs allowed were consistent with his 5.39 ERA for the season after 28 starts.

"There's a lot of positives that came out of that game today," Belisle said. "Five runs, again, it's not cutting it. It's unacceptable. I know Villanueva shut us down, but I'm sitting here and looking at that -- five runs I gave up today? I'm not going to settle for this kind of pitcher so I'm going to keep grinding."