The Cincinnati Reds had to overcome a 5-0 deficit, a rain delay of nearly two hours, losing the lead in the 8th inning, and having no one on base with two outs in the bottom of the 9th inning – but they did all of those things and the result was a walk-off win on a 2-run home run just before midnight to beat the Detroit Tigers 9-8.
After a scoreless 1st inning it was Detroit that got the scoring started when Riley Greene hit a solo home run in the 2nd inning. The Tigers would get to Andrew Abbott again in the top of the 3rd when Javier Baez hit a leadoff home run to make it 2-0. They would then string together a walk, single, and an RBI double by Matt Cierling to plate two more runs and extend the lead to 4-0. The next inning a leadoff double led to another run scoring when Jahmai Jones singled with two outs to push the lead for the visitors to five runs.
Cincinnati, who had come up short in each of the first four innings with runners on base, got on the board in the 5th. Dane Myers would get things moving with a 1-out walk. Five pitches later Matt McLain hit his first home run of the season with a 421-foot blast to center to make it a 5-2 ballgame. The next inning the Reds would tack on another run on a moonshot from Nathaniel Lowe just as the rain began at Great American Ball Park as he clubbed a 438-foot home run nearly up to the top of the stands in right field.
Following the 6th inning the game went into a rain delay. After one hour and 49 minutes the game resumed in a light drizzle. After Brock Burke tossed a hitless top of the 7th the Reds got their half of the inning started with a walk from Dane Myers to bring the tying run to the plate. And tying run it was as Matt McLain worked the count full before crushing his second homer of the game to even up the score at 5-5.
Elly De La Cruz would follow the home run with a single back up the middle, but Will Vest retired the next two hitters. Detroit then made a pitching change to bring in Brant Hurter to set up a lefty-on-lefty matchup with Nathaniel Lowe with De La Cruz on second. Lowe hit a routine grounder to second base but Javier Baez threw wide to first and the ball got away, allowing De La Cruz to race in and score to put Cincinnati in front and extend the inning. Two pitches later Tyler Stephenson lined a double into the left field corner to plate another run and put the Reds up by two runs.
Detroit wasn’t ready to roll over after losing the lead. Spencer Torkelson hit a 435-foot home run with one out in the 8th off of Tony Santillan. A single followed. Then with two outs Kerry Carpenter gave the Tigers the lead with a 2-run home run into the stands in right field.
With the score still 8-7 heading to the bottom of the 9th it was Kenley Jansen heading to the mound for Detroit as he looked to close the game out. To get that done, though, he was going to have to face the heart of the Reds lineup. After retiring the first two batters, Jansen battled with Spencer Steer before the Reds outfielder came through with a single to bring Nathaniel Lowe to the plate as the winning run with two outs. The winning run it was as he crushed his second home run of the night for a walk-off, 2-run home run.
Key Moment of the Game
Nathaniel Lowe’s walk-off home run. Runner up: The umpire deciding to wait out the rain so the game could continue.
Notes Worth Noting
Terry Francona said in the postgame press conference that Eugenio Suarez was going to be going to the 10-day injured list with an oblique strain. In a probably related move, JJ Bleday was removed from the game in Triple-A after the 5th inning.
The Cincinnati offense seems to be coming around a little bit over the last two weeks. On Friday night they had four players with multi-hit games and six players get on base at least twice.
Speaking of twice, Matt McLain and Nathaniel Lowe both homered twice. It was the first and second home run for each player on the year. Tough to imagine that’s happened all that often in the history of baseball.
The win kept the Reds in 1st place. They are a half-game up on the Cubs, with Chicago tied up with the Dodgers in the 8th inning out in Los Angeles.
Jose Trevino played a rehab game with Dayton tonight. He served as the Dragons catcher for the first five innings of the game and then exited the game as planned. He went 2-2 with a walk and he scored two runs.
Up Next for the Cincinnati Reds
Detroit Tigers vs Cincinnati Reds
Saturday April 24th, 7:15pm ET
Jack Flaherty (0-1, 3.47 ERA) vs Brady Singer (1-1, 5.32 ERA)
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