CINCINNATI -- When Christian Yelich hit his first home run on Tuesday, it appeared little more than a historical footnote. When he hit his second home run, it was a brand-new ballgame.But Yelich's first career multi-homer game and five RBIs weren't enough to overcome Milwaukee's pitching problems in a 9-7

CINCINNATI -- When Christian Yelich hit his first home run on Tuesday, it appeared little more than a historical footnote. When he hit his second home run, it was a brand-new ballgame.

But Yelich's first career multi-homer game and five RBIs weren't enough to overcome Milwaukee's pitching problems in a 9-7 loss to the Reds at Great American Ball Park, where starter Junior Guerra and the Brewers trailed by a touchdown before sending their seventh batter to the plate.

The bullpen was just as culpable in a defeat that dropped Milwaukee 5 1/2 games behind the Cubs, whose Tuesday night game against the Mets was suspended, in the National League Central. At 73-60, the Brewers are a half-game ahead of the Rockies for the second NL Wild Card spot after Colorado's win.

"It's a shame it gets wasted tonight," Brewers manager Craig Counsell said of Yelich's big night, highlighted by a three-run homer in the seventh. "We just dug ourselves a huge hole."

The Brewers will need better starts than Guerra's four-out dud on Tuesday to reach the finish line. Of the 13 batters Guerra faced, 10 reached safely beginning with the first four -- all of whom came around to score. The Reds opened with a nine-batter rally that included Jose Peraza 's homer and Guerra's run-scoring wild pitch for a 4-0 Cincinnati lead.

It was 6-0 by the end of the second, and Guerra, making his final start before rosters expand, was out of the game. He was charged with six earned runs in 1 1/3 innings, increasing his ERA in August to 7.03. His next turn would come Sunday, which happens to be the day the Brewers plan to reinstate Zach Davies from the Minor Leagues.

Asked whether Guerra was scheduled to start again, Counsell said: "We're going to have to talk about that."

"The first inning was long, was hard, and everything was going their way," Guerra said. "Nothing went my way. I felt like I was in the zone and they were attacking me. There's really no excuse."

Yelich almost single-handedly powered the Brewers back into the game.

With a solo homer in the sixth inning and a three-run shot to cap Milwaukee's four-run seventh, Yelich brought the Brewers to within a run at 7-6. His first career multi-homer game gives him 25 home runs this season, adding to a career high he set on the last homestand.

Yelich has gone deep in six of his last nine games, and he tacked on another RBI on a ninth-inning groundout as the Brewers twice brought the tying run to the plate against Reds closer Raisel Iglesias .

"Being down six in the second inning is tough, but we were able to chip away and we made a game out of it," Yelich said. "We put ourselves in position to tie it a couple of times. It's a credit to the guys for staying in the game, because those are easy to fold up shop and give some stuff away. We were able to battle back.

"It didn't work out for us, but it was good to see some grind out there."

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED

One-run game: In the seventh, Hernan Perez hit an RBI double to knock Reds starter Anthony DeSclafani from the game in favor of former Brewers reliever Jared Hughes. He walked Lorenzo Cain before Yelich pulled a 1-1 sinker down the right-field line for a three-run homer.

"Honestly, there's been no change or no conscious effort to do anything different than I've done in the past," Yelich said of his power surge. "I think it's one of those things that's just starting to show up a little bit more. You're learning yourself as a hitter a little bit. It's a product of that. When that stuff happens, it's really hard to explain."

Gennett's triple: Former Brewer Scooter Gennett was the difference maker for the Reds, going 3-for-4 with two runs and two RBIs on a seventh-inning triple off Joakim Soria that served as an answer to Yelich's three-run homer in the top of the frame. Those two runs were charged to Matt Albers, who also allowed an inherited runner to score Tuesday. He has yielded runs in six of his seven appearances since returning in late July from a shoulder injury.

That part of the bullpen -- the tier below Jeremy Jeffress , Josh Hader and Soria -- has not been effective of late.

"There's no question we've given up some runs there," Counsell said. "It's an area where there's outs for them to get for sure, and we're going to need people to get those outs."

Asked whether it was putting too much on September callups to suggest they could fill those gaps, Counsell said: "I think that's putting a lot on callups, yes. I think we're going to need the guys we have to get outs."

SOUND SMART

Yelich's first homer on Tuesday was a towering shot to center field off DeSclafani, giving Milwaukee a home run in 20 consecutive games at Great American Ball Park since 2016. That's a stadium record for any team, including the Reds.

YOU GOTTA SEE THIS

In an odd moment in the second inning, Reds cleanup hitter Eugenio Suarez abandoned the basepaths and headed toward the dugout mid-rally, mistakenly believing his team had made its third out on a fielder's choice. Counsell argued to no avail, and Suarez was allowed to go back to third. It did not impact the score, as Brewers reliever Jordan Lyles retired the next hitter.

"Basically, timeout was called," Counsell said. "If anything, I didn't see the guy leave third base. I asked for stoppage of play, and we hadn't made an appeal or anything before the stoppage of play. So once timeout's called, then it doesn't matter that he left the baseline, apparently. There's no challenge."

UP NEXT

After not being able to complete a trade with the Reds for Matt Harvey last week, the Brewers will go head-to-head against the right-hander when the series continues at 6:10 p.m. CT on Wednesday. The Brewers won a waiver claim for Harvey and had two days to work out a deal, but when the teams couldn't agree on fair value by a Friday afternoon deadline, the Reds pulled Harvey back. He'll pitch opposite Brewers rookie Freddy Peralta , who struck out seven in seven scoreless innings against Cincinnati at Miller Park in his most recent outing.