Matt McLain continues to just crush the baseball and he hit his 6th home run of the spring on Sunday and Brandon Williamson took care of business on the mound. That wasn’t enough, though, as the Cincinnati Reds bullpen ran into struggles and the offense struggled to capitalize on opportunities in a 6-3 loss to the Seattle Mariners.
The Highlights
Cincinnati got the game started out in promising fashion when Matt McLain picked up an infield single and took third base on a Spencer Steer double. After Elly De La Cruz lined out, Sal Stewart walked to load the bases but George Kirby would strand all three runners.
Two innings later the Reds would get on the board when Matt McLain hit a 417-foot home run to begin the 3rd inning. It was his 6th of the spring. Sal Stewart then kept the inning alive with a 2-out double and that paid off when seven pitches later Tyler Stephenson singled him in to make it a 2-0 game.
While the offense was getting the job done on their side of things, Brandon Williamson was carving up the Mariners lineup.The lefty, vying for a spot in the rotation with two spots up for grabs, worked 4.0 shutout innings while allowing just two hits, walking one, and striking out four batters. He threw 63 pitches on the day and 41 one of those pitches were strikes.
Pierce Johnson came out for the 5th inning to take over for Williamson and Seattle was more than happy to give him a rude welcoming. Carson Taylor got a 1-out rally started with a single into left field. A walk came next and then Brendan Donovan doubled in two runs to tie things up. Another walk would come next and then Luke Raley doubled in two runs of his own to put his team in the lead and send Johnson to the showers as the Reds made a pitching change to bring in Thomas Farr. He didn’t fair any better as he gave up an RBI double to Rob Refnsyer as the Mariners kept on crushing the ball in the inning. Cincinnati got the final out of the inning on a 420-foot fly ball caught by Noelvi Marte against the wall.
Seattle tacked on another run in the bottom of the 6th inning against Brock Burke. He began the inning with a walk and then gave up back-to-back 1-out singles with the last one driving in a run to make it 6-2.
After a run of struggles from the bullpen on the day it was Connor Phillips putting an end to that in the 7th inning when he struck out all three batters he faced. Cincinnati would get a run in the next half-inning after a walk and a single put runners on the corners with one out. Yerlin Confidan brought in a run on a ground out to make it 6-3, but that would be the last time either team would score as the Mariners held on for the win.
You can see the box score for this game here.
News and Notes
Brandon Williamson has thrown 11.0 innings this spring and has allowed just two runs on six hits and two walks. He’s also struck out 13 batters in his four outings (two starts).
Matt McLain remains the hottest hitter alive. He had two more hits on the day and is now hitting .553/.605/1.105 on the spring with five walks and four strikeouts in 43 plate appearances.
Connor Phillips and Anthony Misiewicz each threw a hitless inning of relief. Cincinnati pitchers combined for five walks and nine strikeouts on the day.
The Reds had 11 hits and four walks on the day, but they went 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position.
The Reds are back to the field for an afternoon game on Monday. They will take on the Arizona Diamondbacks in a road game with the first pitch scheduled for 4:10pm ET. Scheduled to pitch for Cincinnati on the day: Andrew Abbott, Emilio Pagan, Tony Santillan, Lyon Richardson, Hagen Danner, Zach Maxwell, and Luis Mey.
