The Brewers’ eight-game winning streak was snapped last night, as the Reds took the second game of this series by a 4-2 final score. However, it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows for Cincinnati. Hunter Greene threw five innings and 85 pitches on Tuesday, but the flame-throwing RHP was placed back on the 15-day injured list this morning. Not ideal for a Reds squad clawing to get back to .500 on the season.
The rubber match for this NL Central clash gets underway this afternoon at 12:40 p.m. ET. Let’s break down the matchup with some odds and lines on the DraftKings Sportsbook.
Brewers vs. Reds prediction, preview
It’ll be very interesting to see how Milwaukee utilizes DL Hall on Wednesday. The Brewers have already said that’s today’s pitching plan will mirror the last “start” Hall made, when he went three scoreless innings against the Phillies last Friday. Quinn Priester followed Hall and threw the final six frames in an eventual 6-2 victory. Hall only threw 44 pitches in that appearance, but he was so effective that it makes you wonder how willing Milwaukee will be to stretching out the former first-round pick. Hall’s always had control issues, yet in 81.1 career MLB innings, the left-hander owns a 3.65 FIP and a 25.1% strikeout rate. He’s certainly got the stuff to play at this level.
I’m less bullish on Priester. The 24-year-old’s 4.09 ERA and 4.04 xERA won’t turn any heads, and some of Priester’s limited success can at least be attributed to an elite 58.0% ground ball rate, but there’s just not a lot here. In 50.2 innings of work in 2025, the former Pirates farmhand pairs an underwhelming 14.9% strikeout rate with an ugly 10.7% walk rate. At some point, his .253 BABIP is going to normalize, and Priester’s surface stats won’t look so acceptable. Opposing LHBs are also batting .307 with a .402 wOBA off Priester for his entire career. Specific to today, that should mean good things for TJ Friedl and Elly De La Cruz. Maybe even Gavin Lux in a pinch-hitter role later in the game.
So Cincinnati has that going for itself on Wednesday. It has Andrew Abbott, too. The left-hander’s only made nine starts this season, so he doesn’t have the innings to qualify for the ERA title, but among pitchers who have thrown at least 40 innings in 2025, Abbott’s 1.51 ERA is the lowest mark in the National League. The 26-year-old’s ERA estimators are all hovering around 3.10, and the extreme fly ball nature of Abbott’s game will eventually result in a higher HR/FB ratio, yet a 28.2% strikeout rate helps quell some of these regression concerns. At the end of the day, Abbott pitched 32.2 innings in May and allowed only two earned runs. Who am I to tell you that that isn’t amazing?
Brewers vs. Reds pick, best bet
Best Bet: Reds ML (-125)
Cincinnati is 7-2 in Abbott starts in 2025, while the Brewers have just an 85 wRC+ versus LHPs.
Strong Lean: Andrew Abbott Over 16.5 Outs Recorded (-105)
Abbott’s hit the over on this prop in three of his last four outings.
