A year and a day after shoulder surgery, Aaron Ashby returns to an MLB mound

CINCINNATI – It still went down as a defeat for the Milwaukee Brewers, dropping them to 6-3 on the young season.

But the fight they showed in falling to the Cincinnati Reds, 10-8, on Monday night at Great American Ball Park was a major positive.

Taking advantage of some shaky Milwaukee defense and Aaron Ashby's return to a major-league mound for the first time since Oct. 5, 2022, Cincinnati jumped out to an 8-0 lead heading into the fifth inning before the Brewers came roaring back.

Home runs by Brice Turang and Christian Yelich helped the cause, with Yelich's two-run shot in the seventh making it a 9-8 game before the Brewers finally ran out of magic.

"I like the guys in the room. I really do," said manager Pat Murphy. "I liked the way they responded. That's a good team over there. You can't give them that much rope."

Rhys Hoskins was at the plate with a pair of runners on with two outs in the ninth and flied out to right to end it but said afterward to have even gotten into position to take the lead was a major positive.

"At the end of the day this game is about wins and losses, right?" Hoskins said. "But when, as a group, you can show fight when you've been punched a few times in a row, that's going to show itself in a big situation later on in the year.

"So, yeah, there's confidence to be drawn from that."

Willy Adames was the only starting position player to fail to record a hit and he was robbed of a home run by a leaping grab by Stuart Fairchild at the right-field wall in the fifth.

In all, the Brewers out-hit the Reds, 12-10.

Turang's homer was his first of the season and Yelich's fourth. He didn't hit his fourth homer last season until May 4. Yelich is also the first Milwaukee player to hit four homers in the first nine games since he did so in 2019.

Aaron Ashby didn't get much help

It looked like it might be that kind of night for Ashby just two batters into his outing when Hoskins whiffed on a throw from Adames. He said afterward he simply lost the ball with the stands in the background.

An inning later a throwing error by Joey Ortiz on a grounder by Elly De La Cruz left the speedster on second. He then stole third and scored on a grounder and Will Benson homered one batter later to make it 2-0.

The wheels came off in the fourth when Cincinnati sent 11 batters to the plate and scored six times with another Ortiz throwing error helping open the door.

In all, Milwaukee was charged with three errors. Or, one more than the team had accumulated in its first eight games of the season.

"The infield miscues – we've got a guy playing third base that hasn't played third base in his career until this year (Ortiz), and Rhys has been off for a year," Murphy said. "He had a leg injury, so it's not like just regaining your form, right? But I love both kids and I'm excited that they're with us and not anybody else.

"It's part of it. You don't always play great defense. This was a draining game, but we battled back and there was a lot to be proud of."

Sal Frelick gambled in the outfield and failed

De La Cruz had already slammed a 450-foot homer to straightaway center in the fifth when, in his next at-bat in the seventh, sent a sinking line drive to center off Bryan Hudson.

Sal Frelick rushed in and made a diving attempt to catch it. Instead, the ball caromed past him and all the way to the warning track as De La Cruz – the fastest player in the major leagues – motored around the bases.

The relay throw might have made it a close play at home, but it hit the mound and caromed away.

"I've got no problem with Sal diving for that ball," said Murphy. "Knowing who the hitter is, you rob him of a hit, that momentum, that changes (things). He's such a good runner that he's liable to steal second anyways. I have no problem with it."

The numbers looked good for Ashby for the most part

Sunday was actually an anniversary for Ashby.

"It was a year ago yesterday that I got surgery," he said. "So, just to be back here and be in this position, I'm just extremely grateful and blessed. A wonderful feeling, for sure."

He fell an out shy of completing four innings and allowed six hits, eight runs (four earned) and two walks while striking out a pair.

Maybe the biggest number was 82, as in the number of pitches he threw.

"I felt really good," Ashby said. "I still feel like there was stuff in the tank. That's kind of the threshold of where I've been at – 82 to 85 pitches the last three to four outings. I feel strong and still felt strong at the end of the game."

Ashby topped out at 95.3 mph with his sinker and generated 10 swings and misses in all.

Interestingly, he threw almost as many changeups (37) as he did sinkers (39).

"He threw great changeups and really established that," Murphy said. "It was a great pitch; a lot of swings and misses on it. They hit some balls hard, but for his first major-league start in a while I thought he did great. He deserves to be with us again."

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Brewers' Aaron Ashby back on MLB mound a year and a day after surgery