team like that.”With Gabbert making his third start of the season for Mariota, the Titans struggled for much of the game to do much on offense. Derrick Henry took the first offensive snap for Tennessee in the wildcat, and he ran for 93 yards. But the Titans held the ball for only 3 minutes, 50 seconds

The strength of a contending club often isn’t determined by who plays every day Devin White Jersey , but who plays only every few days. Or every few weeks. Or even every few months.

The Milwaukee Brewers were concerned when they began their Friday night game in Cincinnati with two injured starting outfielders, Lorenzo Cain and Christian Yelich, then lost the other starter, Ryan Braun, to lower back tightness in the seventh inning.

But manager Craig Counsell plugged in exactly the right pieces, and a spare outfield group that probably should be called “The Replacements” keyed an 8-2 victory over the Reds.

How’s this for a couple of fills-in, who did nothing except fill up the box score: Keon Broxton was 3-for-4 with two homers, four RBIs, a run stolen by some alert baserunning and an exceptional sliding catch.

And Hernan Perez, who came in after Braun was hurt, contributed a two-run double to start a five-run ninth inning.

“They (the Brewers outfield) have been the workhorse of this team L.J. Collier Jersey , so I’ve got to come in and fill their spot while they’re down. It was a good night,” said Broxton, who played in only his third game this season.

Because their bench came through yet again — on Thursday night, part-time starter Eric Thames hit his third consecutive game-winning homer against the Reds — the Brewers can assure them of winning the four-game series by taking Saturday’s game at Great American Ball Park.

“It speaks to our depth again … we’ve had a couple of games like that where (bench players) make meaningful contributions,” Counsell said. “With Yelich down, we’re counting on Keon, so it’s got to be a good feeling for him.”

The last-place Reds had won nine of 10 coming in to the series, but still can’t seem to solve the Brewers, who have won seven of eight games against Cincinnati. Milwaukee owns the National League’s best record at 48-33.

“These guys have been battling all year and they’re in a good spot right now, so I’m trying to do my best to keep them right there,” Broxton said.

Milwaukee will send out right-hander Jhoulys Chacin (6-3) Johnathan Abram Jersey , who has lost his last two decisions, on Saturday to face Reds right-hander Tyler Mahle (6-6), who has won his last three decisions during a span of six starts.

“We’ve got to play better. … Their pitching kind of stifled us the last two nights,” Reds interim manager Jim Riggleman said. “We’ve got to turn it back on … crank it up again with our bats.”

Yelich sat out with a lower back issue. He’s listed as day to day — and so Broxton made his second start since being recalled from Triple-A Colorado Springs on Tuesday.

Broxton had an RBI single in the second against Sal Romano (4-8), then hit the first of his two homers to make the score 2-0 in the fourth. Then, with Milwaukee up 2-1 in the eighth after reliever Michael Lorenzen’s homer for the Reds, Broxton appeared to be caught off third by Reds catcher Tucker Barnhart.

But he eluded a tag by falling down, then scored as Orlando Arcia distracted the Reds by allowing himself to be tagged off second.

Broxton finished quite an evening’s work with a two-run homer in the ninth and a stretched-out catch of Scooter Gennett’s drive into the right-center field gap with two runners on base.

“He’s been up and down (from the minors) a little bit, but he’s very talented,” Riggleman said of Broxton, who hit only .220 while spending most of last season with Milwaukee. “He can do a lot of things — he can hit with power Maxx Crosby Jersey , he can run and he plays great defense.”

The Reds didn’t do much against Brewers starter Chase Anderson, who limited them to one other hit besides Lorenzen’s homer in six innings, and relievers Josh Hader, Jeremy Jeffress and Dan Jennings.

Now, the Brewers would like to get Chacin straightened out. His ERA jumped from 3.18 to 3.82 as he gave up eight runs, nine hits and five walks in 4 1/3 innings during an 8-2 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday. Chacin is 2-3 in nine career games against the Reds. He didn’t get the decision during a 6-5 Brewers win on April 30.

In Mahle’s only previous start against the Brewers, Thames beat him with a two-run homer in a 2-0 Milwaukee win on April 18.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The Tennessee Titans had everything they needed to cap coach Mike Vrabel’s debut season with a second straight playoff berth.Except a healthy quarterback.Marcus Mariota watched from the sideline as Blaine Gabbert was intercepted twice in the final 9:05 Sunday night in a 33-17 loss to the Indianapolis Colts that snapped the Titans’ four-game winning streak and ended their season.“We got to do a better job and figure out how to try to take the next step,” Vrabel said.The Titans, who finished 9-7 for a third straight season, had listed Mariota as questionable for this game with neck and foot injuries. Mariota sat out one practice and was limited in two others Foster Moreau Jersey , throwing the ball well enough that the fourth-year quarterback appeared on track to at least test himself in pregame warmups.Mariota never took the field in pregame warmups, the decision already made for the No. 2 pick overall in the 2015 draft not to even dress for a win-and-in game to wrap up the regular season.Vrabel declined to share any details on the seriousness of Mariota’s injury or when the decision was made not to play the quarterback. An ESPN.com report cited anonymous sources that Mariota was at risk of permanent damage to a nerve hurt by the stinger that knocked the quarterback out of last week’s win against Washington.Vrabel said only that Mariota was as disappointed as his teammates over the loss.“We made a decision that Marcus wasn’t going to play tonight,” said Vrabel. “We’ll continue to evaluate him and try to worry about his health and every one of those guys’ health — Marcus included.”Gabbert said he didn’t know for certain that he would make his third start of the season until Sunday morning. Gabbert was 18 of 29 for a season-high 165 yards with a TD pass.“It’s tough,” Gabbert said of the loss. “You want to go out there and perform well for the guys, lead the guys, get a win and get into the race. But I didn’t do enough. We didn’t’ do enough, and our season ended tonight.”Some of the Titans said after the game that they knew early in the week that Mariota might not be able to play.Center Ben Jones said Mariota would have played if he could have and his teammates love him to death.“Trust me, Marcus is one of the toughest guys on this team, and if he could have played, he definitely would be out there,” Jones said. “We respect the hell out of him for what he does for this team and what he plays through. He’s one of the toughest son of a guns on the team.”Linebacker Wesley Woodyard said the Titans had a chance to win Joey Bosa Jersey , even without Mariota.“They made more plays than us,” Woodyard said. “On defense, we didn’t do a good job of getting off the field in the first half. You’ve got to start fast against a team like that.”With Gabbert making his third start of the season for Mariota, the Titans struggled for much of the game to do much on offense. Derrick Henry took the first offensive snap for Tennessee in the wildcat, and he ran for 93 yards. But the Titans held the ball for only 3 minutes, 50 seconds of the first quarter with Indianapolis (10-6) having a 139-15 edge in total offense.Only linebacker Jayon Brown’s interception return for a touchdown in the second quarter and then stripping Colts running back Marlon Mack of the ball kept the Titans within 17-10 of the Colts at halftime. The Colts outgained the Titans 436-258, the seventh time this season that Tennessee didn’t reach 300 yards of total offense.Now the Titans will clean out their lockers Monday.“As a whole, this game should eat us up all the way until next year,” Woodyard said. “We can build off this. You can learn a lot when you lose.”