Inability to hit safely with runners on base and in scoring position led to the Cincinnati Reds losing to the Atlanta Braves, 4-2, before about half of the record crowd of 91,032 that originally showed up Saturday at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Final
R
H
E
Atlanta Braves (47-63)
4
10
0
Cincinnati Reds (58-54)
2
10
0
W: Waldrep (1-0) L: Suter (1-2) Sv: Iglesias (14)
Statcast | Box Score | Game Thread
Trailing in the bottom of the ninth by two runs, Cincinnati’s T.J. Friedl and Matt McLain led off the inning with back-to-back singles. But with the tying runs on base and nobody out, the 3-4-5 hitters in the batting order went down meekly against former Red Raisel Iglesias. For the game, the Reds were 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position (and that one happened last night, in the portion of the game that was played Saturday before the suspension of play due to rain). Cincinnati left 12 men on base in a gut-wrenching loss.
As this post goes live, the Reds are now four games behind San Diego for the third and final Wild Card playoff spot. They really can’t get much further behind than this without becoming a real long-shot. The first-place Brewers are on their way to a win over Washington, leading 6-1 in the seventh, and the Cubs are tied with Baltimore in the fifth.
The Offense
Cincinnati’s composite hitting line score: 10-for-36 (.278), 4 walks, 7 strikeouts, and only one extra-base hit: McLain’s ninth-inning double.
In Saturday’s first inning, Braves lefty Austin Cox retired leadoff hitter T.J. Friedl, but Matt McLain, Elly De La Cruz and Austin Hays followed with consecutive singles. McLain scored on Hays’ hit to put the Reds up 1-0. But the rains came and ended all Saturday evening proceedings. This afternoon, Braves minor league righty Hurston Waldrep — called up from AAA Gwinnett– ascended the mound to resume the first inning to face new Red Miguel Andujar in his first Cincinnati at-bat. On Waldrep’s first pitch, De La Cruz and Hays stole third and second base, respectively. On the next pitch, Andujar hit a grounder to third which, due to its location, made it impossible for De La Cruz to get back to third. He was tagged out by third baseman Austin Riley while trying to score on a dive to the plate. Noelvi Marte then hit a fly ball to left to end the inning.
Cincinnati loaded the bases in the second against Waldrep with one out on walks to Tyler Stephenson and Friedl, sandwiched around a single by Ke’Bryan Hayes. McLain’s sacrifice fly scored Stephenson to make it 3-2.
Facing reliever Pierce Johnson, Hayes led off the bottom of the seventh with his second single. With two outs, lefty Dylan Lee came on to pop up De La Cruz to end the inning.
In the eighth, Lee allowed a two-out single to Marte, prompting Atlanta Manager Brian Snitker to summon Tyler Kinley to face Spencer Steer. Marte stole second, and Steer then walked, putting the tying run on base. Kinley balked to move both runners into scoring position, and Stephenson walked to load the bases. Hayes hit a grounder that looked headed to left field for a game-tying single, but Atlanta third baseman Luke Williams went to the ground to cut it off and then delivered a throw to second just before Stephenson arrived to end the inning.
Iglesias allowed a leadoff single to Friedl in the ninth. McLain then hit one to deep right on which Eli White’s glove hit the wall as he tried to catch it, with the ball falling free. It went as a single, because Friedl rightly judged that the ball had a chance to be caught. But with the tying runs on base and nobody out, De La Cruz struck out, Hays fouled out to first, and pinch-hitter Jake Fraley popped up to end it.
McLain was on base three times, with a single, double and walk. Friedl and Hayes both also had two hits.
The Pitching
On what turned into a bullpen day, Cincinnati’s composite box-score pitching line: 9 innings, 10 hits, 1 walk, 11 strikeouts, and 4 runs.
In Saturday’s first inning, Chase Burns retired the Braves in order, including two strikeouts. But today, the game’s final eight innings became a bullpen game, with Brent Suter first on the bump in the second inning. After retiring the first two batters in the second, Suter allowed back-to-back singles followed by a three-run homer to left by Eli White to put Atlanta up 3-1.
Suter pitched two outs into the top of the fourth, when Michael Harris doubled, and Manager Terry Francona brought on righty Luis Mey to face Ozzie Albies. Mey struck out Albies swinging after falling behind 3-0 to end the inning. Mey escaped damage in the fifth when, with one out and runners on first and third, he struck out Matt Olsen swinging and retired Williams on a popped-up bunt attempt.
Sam Moll entered in the sixth and held the Braves scoreless despite allowing exit velocities of 101.4, 105.2 and 99.1. Scott Barlow entered in the seventh and allowed White’s second homer, a solo shot, to make it 4-2 Atlanta. An out later, Jurickson Profar tripled to right-center, but Olsen popped up and Williams struck out to end the threat.
Lyon Richardson pitched the scoreless eighth and ninth innings, looking as good as he has in awhile.
One fan’s thoughts
Losing two out of three to a lousy Atlanta team is a real downer. The reaction from many in Redleg Nation is to throw up their hands or the remote and say something like, well, there it goes. (I yelled some not-so-nice words at game’s end.) We’re all quietly bracing ourselves for this team to fall apart, right? You can’t have followed the Reds for the past few decades without coming to realize that if you believe this team is going to do what it needs to do at key moments, it’s a formula for abject disappointment.
But despite results like this series, this team is playing up to its full potential, in my opinion, and you can thank Francona’s influence for that. I’m not giving up, and I don’t think this team will either. The current record is right about where it should be, considering this team’s collective talent level. For the Reds to make a true run at a playoff berth, one or two of the everyday players is going to have to shift into a higher gear hitting-performance-wise. And, at least one current reliever is going to have to step up and become a high-leverage performer. Can that happen? Sure. Is it likely? Who knows? But that’s what sports are all about.
This team absolutely needs power, and there are many of you reading this saying, yeah, so where are Christian Encarnacion-Strand and Rece Hinds? They are collectively hitting below the Mendoza line at the big-league level, and striking out at a very high percentage. You can’t win with players like that, because major league pitchers have many holes in those players’ swings to attack. As long as this team is competing for a playoff berth, they have to stick with players who are not strikeout machines when at the plate.
Up Next for the Cincinnati Reds
Cincinnati Reds at Chicago Cubs
Monday, August 4, 7:10 p.m. ET
Nick Lodolo (8-6, 3.09 ERA) vs. Michael Soroka (3-8, 4.87 ERA)
