Tuesday, 
May 24, 2011 5:28 AM

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Brewers left-hander Chris Narveson had the shortest start of his career on Monday night after going home sick the day before.
Narveson allowed six runs in the third inning after Jay Bruce homered and the Cincinnati Reds beat Milwaukee 9-5.
“I don’t like that to make that an excuse,” Narveson said. “I drank a lot of fluid and took some drugs, but it didn’t work too well.”
Already trailing 1-0, Narveson (1-1) didn’t make it out of the third as the Reds sent 11 batters to the plate, his shortest outing in 38 career starts.
“I know he wasn’t 100 percent. Hopefully that is the reason he was up in the zone, but he was up. Everything he threw was up,” Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said. “Whatever it is — cold, flu symptoms, that kind of stuff — he wasn’t in question whether he was going to pitch or not.”
Ryan Braun hit a two-run homer in the ninth and extended his hitting streak to 10 games after being chosen NL player of the week earlier Monday and signing a $105 million extension on Thursday.
Braun has reached base safely in all 22 games to start the season, one short of the franchise record to begin a year set by Robin Yount in 1983.
But that was about the only highlight for the Brewers, who may lose third baseman Casey McGehee after he ran into Joey Votto for the final out of the game and sprained his left thumb. He’ll be re-evaluated on Tuesday.
“I don’t really know how it worked out where we ended up running into each other,” McGehee said. “I just got my thumb caught on him and pulled back pretty good, but I think we’ll be all right.”
Milwaukee has dropped all four games to Cincinnati this year and 19 of the last 22.
“We haven’t scored as many runs as they have,” he said. “It’s as simple as that.”
Cincinnati manager Dusty Baker shook up the lineup, putting Brandon Phillips in the fourth spot for the first time this season and moving Bruce up to second. Everything worked for the Reds, who had been hitting .229 in a 3-8 stretch coming into the series against the Brewers.
Even with the slump, the Reds lead the National League in runs (123), home runs (28) and RBIs (119) and powered past the Brewers for the fourth straight time this season after a season-opening sweep.
Votto doubled in the third to reach base safely in all 23 games this season. Votto was robbed of another hit in the sixth when Gomez, in center field, made a diving catch that included a double somersault.
Narveson had thrown 13 scoreless innings in his two home starts at Miller Park, but he brought his road struggles back to Milwaukee by lasting just 2 1-3 innings. In his last three appearances, he’s 0-3 with an 8.35 ERA.
“You are not always going to be 100 percent, so you have got to be able to go out and compete,” Narveson said. “I wasn’t able to do that today.”
NOTES: Reds RHP Johnny Cueto (right upper arm) is scheduled to make his third rehab start for Triple-A Louisville on Tuesday. Cueto is 0-2 with a 16.20 ERA in his first two appearances. … Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said All-Star RF Corey Hart (oblique) will return either Tuesday or Wednesday, depending on a number of factors. Hart will immediately return to starting in right. … Roenicke said he hadn’t seen the Cooper’s hawk that attacked another bird and captivated most of the crowd during the third inning of Sunday’s 4-1 win over the Astros. “Hopefully it flew back out,” he said.

The Cincinnati Reds agreed to terms with pitcher Bill Bray on a one-year contract Tuesday, avoiding arbitration with the reliever.

Cincinnati, OH (Sports Network) – The Cincinnati Reds agreed to terms with pitcher Bill Bray on a one-year contract Tuesday, avoiding arbitration with the reliever.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The 27-year-old reliever came back from Tommy John surgery which caused him to miss the entire 2009 campaign, and went 0-2 with a 4.13 earned-run average in 35 games for the NL Central champs.

In four major-league seasons with Washington and Cincinnati, Bray is 8-9 with a 3.91 ERA in 165 appearances.

© 2011 The Sports Network

The Cincinnati Reds announced outfielder Jay Bruce’s six-year contract extension Tuesday, which will keep him with the club through 2016.

Cincinnati, OH (Sports Network) – The Cincinnati Reds announced outfielder Jay Bruce’s six-year contract extension Tuesday, which will keep him with the club through 2016.

The deal, which was reported last week, includes a club option for 2017. Financial terms of the extension were not released, but MLB.com reported that it’s worth $51 million, while the option could push the total value to $63 million.

Bruce would have been eligible for salary arbitration this year after he set career highs in 2010 with 25 homers, 70 runs batted in and a .281 batting average. He also had 80 runs scored, a .353 on-base percentage and a .493 slugging percentage.

The 23-year-old Texas native has appeared in 357 games over three seasons with the Reds and is a career .257 hitter with 68 homers and 180 RBI. He has eclipsed the 20-homer plateau each year.

© 2010 The Sports Network