Cincinnati’s Brandon Phillips turned in a spectacular defensive play and followed it with a long home run to lead the Reds to a 4-3 win over the Milwaukee Brewers on the series opener at Great American Ballpark on Friday night.

Phillips had a runs coring single off of Yovani Gallardo (3-2) early on.  Then with two Brewer runners on base in the top of the 7th, Phillips fielded Ryan Braun’s ground ball up the middle, tagged second base with his left knee and threw to first from his knees to turn the double play.  He followed in the bottom of the 7th with the game winning home run as the Reds won for the fifth time in the last seven games.  Cincinnati is 14-6 at Great American Ball Park, the most home wins in the majors.

The Brewers got solo home runs from Jean Segura and Ryan Braun but lost for the 7th time in eight games.  Brewers pitchers gave up 8 hits and walked 9 Cincinnati hitters.  Starter Yovani Gallardo made it through just four innings, allowing 5-hits and throwing 100 pitches.

Carlos Gomez saw his hitting streak end at 14-games, going 0-for-4 and grounding into a double play.

Game 2 of the series is this afternoon (3:10pm).  Hiram Burgos (1-0, 3.00) pitches for the Brewers.  Matt Latos (3-0, 2.23) goes for the Reds.