MILWAUKEE—- The Milwaukee Brewers and The Salvation Army teamed up Monday to help fight childhood hunger by packing hundreds of lunches for children across Milwaukee County.

Brewers front office staff, volunteers, and community leaders assembled 600 lunches at American Family Field as part of the annual Feed the Kids summer meals program.

Each lunch includes a turkey sandwich with cheese, fruit, vegetables, and milk. The meals will be distributed to children on weekdays through August 21st at six locations throughout Milwaukee County while school is out for the summer. The locations include Salvation Army Citadel Corps, Cold Springs Corps, Tiefenthaler Park, Westlawn Gardens, Salvation Army Distribution Center, and Carver Park. The Salvation Army also reminds attendees that all meals must be eaten on-site in accordance with USDA policy.

Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson, The Salvation Army of Milwaukee County Area Commander Major Beverly Gates, and Brewers players Andrew Vaughn and Chad Patrick joined volunteers during the event.

“While ​school is out, ​many children lose access to the meals they depend upon during the school year,” Major Beverly said. “​Feed ​the ​Kids ​helps ​to ​fill ​that ​void, making ​sure ​that ​children ​have ​something ​nutritious ​to ​eat ​and ​reminding ​them ​that ​they ​are ​valued, ​that ​they’re ​important ​and ​that ​they’re ​supported.”

The Feed the Kids program began in 1990 and has provided more than 2.8 million meals to children facing food insecurity across Milwaukee County.

“I ​think just the act of making a sandwich may not seem like a lot, ​but really, ​for the kids across Milwaukee, ​it means a ton,” Mayor Johnson said. “For ​kids ​in ​Milwaukee ​and ​for ​kids ​in ​cities, ​the ​hunger ​really ​spikes ​when ​they’re ​no ​longer ​in ​school, ​when ​they ​don’t ​have, ​you ​know, ​that ​sort ​of ​structured ​programming ​around ​them. ​So ​the ​work ​that ​you’re ​doing ​today, ​it ​may ​seem ​pretty ​simple ​making ​a ​sandwich, ​but ​it ​really ​goes ​much ​farther ​than ​that.”

Organizers say the program helps fill the gap for families who rely on school meal programs during the academic year, ensuring children continue to have access to nutritious lunches throughout the summer.

Cincinnati Reds (39-43, fifth in the NL Central) vs. Milwaukee Brewers (50-31, first in the NL Central)

Milwaukee; Monday, 7:40 p.m. EDT

PITCHING PROBABLES: Reds: Nick Lodolo (2-2, 5.59 ERA, 1.52 WHIP, 38 strikeouts); Brewers: Robert Gasser (1-3, 4.50 ERA, 1.27 WHIP, 31 strikeouts)

LINE: Brewers -156, Reds +126; over/under is 8 1/2 runs

BOTTOM LINE: The Milwaukee Brewers begin a four-game series at home against the Cincinnati Reds on Monday.

Milwaukee is 50-31 overall and 26-17 at home. The Brewers have gone 35-13 in games when they record at least eight hits.

Cincinnati has gone 20-21 in road games and 39-43 overall. The Reds have a 27-6 record in games when they scored at least five runs.

The matchup Monday is the fourth time these teams match up this season.

TOP PERFORMERS: William Contreras has nine home runs, 31 walks and 50 RBIs while hitting .301 for the Brewers. Brice Turang is 10 for 44 with a double, a triple and three RBIs over the past 10 games.

Elly De La Cruz has 13 doubles, two triples, 12 home runs and 38 RBIs for the Reds. Spencer Steer is 7 for 39 with three home runs over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Brewers: 5-5, .239 batting average, 3.30 ERA, outscored opponents by two runs

Reds: 4-6, .215 batting average, 4.45 ERA, outscored by seven runs

INJURIES: Brewers: Coleman Crow: 15-Day IL (forearm), Brandon Lockridge: 10-Day IL (knee), Brian Fitzpatrick: 60-Day IL (elbow), D.L. Hall: 15-Day IL (pectoral), Quinn Priester: 60-Day IL (wrist), Carlos Rodriguez: 15-Day IL (shoulder), Logan Henderson: 15-Day IL (back), Rob Zastryzny: 15-Day IL (shoulder), Angel Zerpa: 60-Day IL (forearm)

Reds: Eugenio Suarez: day-to-day (hand), Blake Dunn: 10-Day IL (elbow), Tony Santillan: 15-Day IL (oblique), Ke’Bryan Hayes: 10-Day IL (back), Emilio Pagan: 15-Day IL (hamstring), Nick Lodolo: day-to-day (wrist), Graham Ashcraft: 60-Day IL (forearm), Brandon Williamson: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Hunter Greene: 60-Day IL (elbow)

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

A game and a series that started so promising, ended up in an emotional loss for the Milwaukee Brewers as they fall to their rivals, the Chicago Cubs, 4-3 in 10 innings on Sunday afternoon.

Brandon Woodruff was the big positive. In his second start since coming back from the IL, Woodruff shoved once again, allowing just one hit over 5.2 scoreless innings. He was efficient and filled up the strike zone as he usually does. Woodruff ended the day with six strikeouts on his line and protecting a one-run lead.

That one run lead was provided by Gary Sanchez, who took a 1-1 fastball from lefty Ryan Rolison and tattooed it into the second deck in left field. It was Sanchez’s eighth home run of the season.

However, that was all the Brewers offense could really muster off Rolison and then old friend Bryse Wilson, who shut down the Crew’s offense over his 4.1 IP.

The Brewers did have a number of opportunities, though. Runners at the corners in the 3rd with one out, both Chourio and Turang strike out. In the 4th, Andrew Vaughn gets a leadoff triple, no one can even muster a sac fly to bring him home. Runners on first in the 6th, 7th, and 8th, no advancement. In the 9th, the Brewers had runners on 1st and 2nd with one out, a base hit can walk it off, and both Cooper Pratt and Joey Ortiz strike out.

“I think sometimes guy maybe try to do too much, and that’s where we try to preach ‘take what the game gives you and go back to taking pitches and handing it to the next guy’” offense and strategy coordinator Jason Lane said.

Meanwhile the Crew used up their top bullpen arms in those earlier leverage innings. Aaron Ashby spiked a curveball with a runner on 3rd to allow the Cubs to tie the game in the 7th. But then Abner Uribe and Trevor Megill got the jobs done in the 8th and 9th. But with few leverage arms left, the Brewers turned to Joel Kuhnel in the 10th.

Kuhnel was able to get the first two batters out at the bottom of the Cubs order. Then he just lost the strike zone. They intentionally walked Pete Crow-Armstrong, then Kuhnel hits Bregman, then walks Michael Busch to bring in a run. Then Seiya Suzuki rips a single to left to score two more and put the Cubs up 4-1.

The Brewers put together some big chances in the 10th. Christian Yelich singled home Ortiz, then Chourio walked and Turang singled, loading the bases for pinch-hitter Garrett Mitchell. Mitchell worked a walk and the Brewers were within a run, down 4-3, with the bases loaded and nobody out.

That’s exactly when it all went sideways. Jake Bauers, after seeing Mitchell get walked, swung at the first pitch and hit a shallow pop fly into left field that was nowhere near deep enough to score a run. Then Gary Sanchez, who homered in the 2nd, grounded into a tailor-made 5-4-3 double play to end the game.

Milwaukee was 2-for-12 with runners in scoring position and left 10 runners on base. Woodruff pitched well enough to win. The bullpen did well enough to win through nine innings. The offense just couldn’t give them enough.

The Brewers missed way too many opportunities to put this game away when they should have and that leaves them on the short end of this series where they had their top three arms in the rotation going. The lead over the Cubs sits at 5.5 games now and the Brewers will look to turn the page to the Reds series.