The Cincinnati Reds offense couldn’t capitalize on multiple opportunities and came up a run short as the Kansas City Royals picked up a 3-2 win on Wednesday night to avoid being swept in the 3-game series.
Final
R
H
E
Cincinnati Reds (28-29)
2
9
0
Kansas City Royals (30-27)
3
8
0
W: Cameron (2-1) L: Greene (4-3) SV: Estevez (15)
Statcast | Box Score | Game Thread
The Royals didn’t make it easy on Hunter Greene in the bottom of the 1st inning. Jonathan India led off with a single and Vinnie Pasquantino walked to put two men on with just one out. Greene would clamp down an d get a fly out and a line out to end the inning, but he threw 25 pitches in the frame.
Cincinnati would put together back-to-back 2-out singles in the top of the 4th inning against Noah Cameron, but the lefty got Connor Joe to ground into a force out to squash the threat. In the bottom of the inning the Royals also had back-to-back singles, but their second single resulted in a run scoring from first as Maikel Garcia was running on the play and he never stopped as the ball hit Matt McLain’s glove and rolled slowly into the outfield before Joe could field it and come up throwing. The right fielder’s throw was off target and up the third base line as Kansas City scored the game’s first run.
An inning later the Royals would add on to their lead when John Rave led off with his first big league hit – a double. Two outs later he came in to score when Bobby Witt Jr. lined a double the other way to make it 2-0.
The Reds tried to put together a 2-out rally in the top of the 6th inning, starting with an 8-pitch walk by Austin Hays. Tyler Stephenson then came through with a single to move Hays up to second. That left Spencer Steer with an opportunity to do some damage and he came through with an RBI single to cut the lead in half.
After throwing 88 pitches through five innings the Reds called on the bullpen to reliever Hunter Greene to begin the 6th. Scott Barlow allowed a walk and a single, but he picked up two strikeouts to get out of the inning without any damage.
Cincinnati tried to get another rally going in the 7th with a 1-out walk and then a single by TJ Friedl. But in what felt like a theme for much of the night when the team had two runners on, a ground ball ended things as Santiago Espinal grounded into an inning-ending double play.
Luis Mey took over on the mound for the Reds in the 7th and he got himself into trouble by walking the first two batters he faced. Facing Bobby Witt Jr. he would fire a wild pitch to move both runners up and then Witt Jr. came through with a sacrifice fly to pad the Royals lead to 3-1. Mey would get two ground outs to follow without allowing any further runs.
Elly De La Cruz started off the 8th inning with a double to the wall in right field and then he moved up to third on a ground out by pinch-hitter Gavin Lux. Spencer Steer was able to drive in his second run of the day when he lined a 2-out single into left and cut Cincinnati’s deficit to a single run. Will Benson came on to pinch hit against new reliever Carlos Estevez of the Royals and he popped up on the first pitch he saw to end the inning.
Matt McLain struck out to start the top of the 9th inning. The called third strike resulted in Nick Martinez barking from the Reds dugout and getting ejected. Manager Terry Francona then came out to ask about it all and ten seconds later he was also ejected from the game. Garrett Hampson was robbed of a hit on a grounder up the middle by Jonathan India for the second out of the inning. A strikeout by TJ Friedl ended the game as the Royals held on for a 3-2 win to avoid being swept.
Key Moment of the Game
The wild pitch by Luis Mey in the 7th inning that set up a sacrifice fly that ultimately produced the winning run.
Notes Worth Noting
Tyler Stephenson and Spencer Steer each had three hits on the night. Cincinnati’s lineup combined for three hits between everyone else.
The Reds stranded two runners on base in the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th innings. Only the 6th inning saw them score a run in all of that.
The two teams combined to strike out just 10 times – five for each squad.
Royals starter Noah Cameron became the 2nd pitcher since 1893 to throw at least 6.1 innings and allow one run or less in his first four MLB starts.
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Friday, May 30th, 2:20pm ET
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