KSReds: Cincinnati Reds Secure Second Series Win

In a long, 162-game season it is all about stacking series wins. Even the best teams in baseball will lose 60 or more games. However, taking two out of three as many times as possible results in an express ticket to the postseason. So far, the Cincinnati Reds have completed that goal in both series.

Wednesday night’s game was delayed nearly four hours and still was played in very wet, rainy conditions. However, Frankie Montas turned in another excellent performance on the mound. At the plate, Reds pieced together enough timely hitting to secure the victory. Cincinnati is now 4-2 on the season after managing to beat Philadelphia’s ace Zack Wheeler.

After taking Thursday off, Cincinnati will return to Great American Ball Park for a three-game weekend series against the New York Mets. Hunter Greene will take the ball at 6:40 p.m. Eastern Time on Friday night. Nick Martinez and Andrew Abbott are also set to start against the Mets. New York, who had two straight games rained out, will be coming off of a Thursday doubleheader. Jose Quintana will pitch on Friday opposite Greene. Luis Severino and Sean Manaea will also be on the bump for the Mets in Cincinnati.

Reds Win via Late-Inning Heroics Once Again

On Sunday evening, the Cincinnati Reds capped off the first series of the season with a wild two-out, bottom of the ninth inning comeback. Then, on Monday night, they needed extra innings to defeat the Philadelphia Phillies. It was their second straight come-from-behind victory as the cardiac Reds appear to be alive and well once again.

Philadelphia struck first getting two runs in the bottom of the first inning off of an Alec Bohm double. Andrew Abbott settled in from that point on though and gave his team a chance to win. The young left-hander finished five and one-third innings allowing just those two runs on three hits while striking out four batters.

In the top of the sixth, Christian Encarnacion-Strand got the Reds on the board with a RBI single up the middle. Jeimer Candelario then delivered a RBI single of his own to tie the game up at 2-2. The Reds bullpen held that score the rest of the way as Emilio Pagan, Justin Wilson, and Brent Suter bridged the gap to closer Alexias Diaz. Diaz recorded the final two outs of the eighth and pitched a clean ninth to force extra innings. That is where Cincinnati’s bats exploded.

With a runner beginning on second, Will Benson and Jonathan India drew walks to load the bases with nobody out. Then, Spencer Steer stepped up and delivered his first career grand slam to give the Reds a 6-2 advantage. Tejay Antone allowed a run in the bottom of the 10th, and Bryce Harper represented the tying run in the batter’s box, but eventually shut the door. Cincinnati started the series in Philadelphia with a 6-3 win.

Defensive Woes Lead to Ugly Loss

Last season, the Cincinnati Reds were not very good defensively. That is what happens when you have a lot of guys play out of position. However, that excuse doesn’t apply to Elly De La Cruz. His future in Major League Baseball likely involves him playing shortstop. The Reds superstar personality is just 22-years old and is going to have growing pains on his path to becoming an All-Star. That doesn’t excuse what happened on Tuesday night in Philadelphia though. Two egregious errors led to a total of five runs as the Phillies ran away from the Reds to even the series at one game a piece.

Bryce Harper hit solo home runs in each of his first two at-bats, with a Will Benson RBI double sandwiched in between for the Reds, to give the Phillies a 2-1 advantage that would hold into the bottom of the sixth inning. That is where the wheels fell off for De La Cruz defensively. With two outs and a runner on third, Bryson Stott grounded up the middle where the Reds shortstop was shaded. However, De La Cruz never set his feet on what should have been a routine ground ball to end the inning and sailed the throw up the line which allowed the run to score. Graham Ashcraft got out of the inning without further damage, but he still threw unnecessary pitches and Philadelphia added to their lead making it 3-1.

The Phillies led off the seventh inning with a single, but then appeared to ground into a double play. Relief pitcher Brent Suter induced a ground ball to Elly De La Cruz who decided to try and glove flip the ball to second base. It was a very errant attempt and instead of a double play there were no two runners on and nobody out. Philadelphia went on to bust the game wide open after that critical mistake. First, it was Kyle Schwarber singled to right field to make it 4-1. Then, Bryce Harper hit a grand slam, his third home run of the game, to ballon their lead to 8-1.

Cincinnati would piece together a few runs, but eventually they fell 9-4. Ashcraft pitched well in his season debut allowing two earned runs on four hits in six innings, but didn’t get enough help at the plate or in the field. Tuesday night’s loss set up a second straight series rubber match for Wednesday evening.

Reds Battle Through Rain to Win Rubber Match

Back-to-back series to begin the season have come down to a pivotal third game. Both times, the Cincinnati Reds have came out on top. After a nearly four hour rain delay on Wednesday night, the Reds were able to get started in Philadelphia. It was timely, two-out hitting that got the job done against Phillies ace Zack Wheeler. He struck out 10 batters and allowed just one earned run, but the Reds took advantage of an error and a hit by pitch in the third inning to get on the board.

After Nick Martini reached via a throwing error, Tyler Stephenson struck out and Jonathan India was hit by a pitch to put runners at first and second with one out. Then, Will Benson moved them up with a groundout to first base. That brought Christian Encarnacion-Strand to the plate and he pulled one down the left field line for a two-run double. The 2-0 advantage would hold until the top of the sixth inning when Jake Fraley and Elly De La Cruz teamed up for more two-out magic. Cincinnati’s six and seven hitters connected on back-to-back doubles to make it a 3-0 game.

Philadelphia got on the board in the bottom half of the inning with a Kyle Schwarber solo home run. However, that is all of the offense they would muster. Frankie Montas turned in five and two-thirds innings for the Reds earning his second win of the season. He allowed just one run on five hits. Justin Wilson recorded the final out of the sixth inning with the bases loaded. Then, Lucas Sims and Fernando Cruz took over the seventh and eighth innings to get to closer Alexis Diaz in the ninth. Diaz allowed one hit, but struck out two batters to earn his first save of the season. Cincinnati won by the final score of 4-1 to secure their second series win in as many tries.