KSReds: Cincinnati Reds Split Series With Philadelphia Phillies

The Cincinnati Reds were shutout on both Monday and Thursday to bookend the series with a pair of games in which they combined for just five hits. However, they are much better offensively in between and would split the four-game series with the Philadelphia Phillies. Elly De La Cruz continues to play like a star, but the rest of the Reds offense is inconsistent at best. While the bats wait to heat up though the bullpen has been a bright spot.

With the four-game series split the Reds are now sitting at 14-11 on the season and two and a half games out of first place in the National League Central. The Brewers currently hold that top spot while the Cubs are a half game back. Cincinnati will spend their Thursday night traveling to Arlington where they will take on the Texas Rangers in a three-game weekend series. Graham Ashcraft is set to start on Friday night with a 8:05 p.m. Eastern Time first pitch. Hunter Greene and Andrew Abbott are also slated to get starts in the great state of Texas.

Ranger Suarez Dominates Reds in Series Opener

There was nothing happening at the plate for the Cincinnati Reds on Monday. Fresh off of sweeping the Los Angeles Angels, including a 3-0 shutout on Sunday, the Reds turned right around and were shutout themselves to begin this series. Ranger Suarez was dominant on the mound for the Philadelphia Phillies throwing seven shutout innings while allowing just two hits. The lack of success at the plate was really nothing to be ashamed of though for the Reds as Suarez extended his scoreless inning streak to 25. In his previous start, the 28-year old threw a complete game shutout. Monday’s win moved his record to 4-0 and lowered his ERA to 1.36.

Hunter Greene was able to make it through seven innings with only 99 pitches, but he got hit around too much. The Phillies scored on a sacrifice fly in both the second and third innings. Then, in the fourth, they made it 3-0 on a RBI groundout. J.T. Realmuto doubled in the fifth and Kody Clemons blasted a three-run home run in the ninth to blow the game open and set the final score of 7-0.

Elly De La Cruz Powers Reds to Bounce Back Win

Monday’s contest was never really in doubt, but the Cincinnati Reds bounced back in major fashion to even the series on Tuesday evening. Philadelphia got on the board in the top of the first inning via a RBI double. However, that would prove to be the end of their scoring for the night. Andrew Abbott certainly wasn’t sharp on the mound, but he at least gave the Reds a chance to win. He worked his way through four and one-third innings allowing just one run on two hits, but walked four batters. The bullpen was absolutely lights out behind him though.

Fernando Cruz, Buck Farmer, Emilio Pagan, and Sam Moll combined to throw four and two-thirds shutout innings as Cincinnati secured an 8-1 win. After the early Phillies score, Christian Encarnacion-Strand immediately evened the game up in the bottom half of the first with a RBI double of his own. He also singled in the third which scored Tyler Stephenson on a throwing error and later came around to score himself via an error. The Reds were able to ballon their lead up to 5-1 in the third inning with a big two-out rally.

In the bottom of the fifth, Elly De La Cruz drove the nail in the coffin with a two-run home run. Finally, in the eighth, Santiago Espinal capped off the scoring with a solo shot setting the eventual final score of 8-1. The Reds scattered nine hits, took advantage of three Phillies errors, and were 3-6 at the plate with runners in scoring position.

Cruz, Benson Lead Come-From-Behind Win

Once again, the Philadelphia Phillies were on the board in the top of the first inning. They added to their early advantage in the third inning as Alec Bohm delivered his second RBI of the game to go up 2-0. The tides would start to turn though in the bottom half of the third. Will Benson took one to dead centerfield cutting the Cincinnati Reds deficit in half. Then, after the Phillies got one in the sixth, the Reds started to really getting it rolling.

Santiago Espinal tied the game with a two-out single scoring Christian Encarnacion-Strand and Tyler Stephenson. Benson came through again to take the lead with a single scoring Espinal. Finally, Elly De La Cruz smacked a ground rule double that made it 5-3 in favor of Cincinnati. Philadelphia showed some life facing Emilio Pagan in the seventh, but Fernando Cruz came in to get out of the jam.

Cincinnati added a couple of insurance runs in their half of the seventh and eighth innings before Brent Suter and Alexis Diaz slammed the door shut in a 7-4 victory. The Wednesday night win put the Cincinnati Reds at a high watermark of four games above .500 at 14-10 on the season.

Phillies Bookend Series With Shoutouts

Thursday afternoon felt eerily similar to Monday night. After beginning the series by getting two-hit by Ranger Suarez and company on Monday, the Cincinnati Reds were on the receiving end of a three-hit shutout on Thursday. Wheeler tossed six innings of one-hit baseball while striking out eight batters before turning the ball over to the bullpen with a 5-0 lead.

Bryson Stott and Kyle Schwarber got the day started for the Phillies with a triple and sacrifice fly. Then, Bryce Harper connected on a two-run blast to right centerfield making it a 4-0 game in the third. That early advantage would prove to be enough, but Stott added another RBI single in the sixth inning to take Philadelphia’s lead up to 5-0.

There was simply nothing going at the plate for Cincinnati in this one. They would go on to strike out 13 times while recording just the three hits to finish the series just like they started with a shoutout loss.