The Cincinnati Reds put on their new all red City Connect uniforms for the first time in a game on Saturday afternoon and they must have felt like new men because the team that had scored fewer runs than any club in baseball put up four runs in the 1st inning and they never looked back. Holding on for a 7-3 win over the Los Angeles Angels, Cincinnati was able to put an end to their losing streak and even up the series.
Brandon Williamson had to work around a single and a walk in the top of the 1st to keep the Angels off of the board. In the bottom of the inning his teammates went to work for him. The Reds put together a 1-out rally that began with a walk from Spencer Steer and saw Sal Stewart pick up an infield RBI single to put the home club on top. Another walk would follow and load the bases for Nathaniel Lowe and he came through with a hard grounder into the right field corner for a 3-run double that pushed the lead to 4-0. Steer would tack on another run in the next inning when he homered off of the foul pole down the left field line.
The Angels loaded the bases with no outs in the top of the 3rd inning, but Williamson only allowed one run on a groundout. The next inning he wasn’t quite as lucky. Two walks gave Mike Trout the opportunity to do damage and he did, lining a double into the left-center gap to plate both runners and cut the Reds lead down to 5-3. Cincinnati caught a break on a 110 MPH line drive off the bat of Jo Adell that Elly De La Cruz was able to snag to end the inning.
That’s where the game remained, though both teams had several run-scoring chances, until the bottom of the 8th inning. Noelvi Marte singled with one out, then took second on a ground out and moved up to third on a wild pitch. Another wild pitch would bring Marte in to make it 6-3. Another wild pitch brought in TJ Friedl to score. Angels reliever Chase Silseth walked the first four batters he saw before striking out Eugenio Suarez to strand the bases loaded, but his lack of control led to two insurance runs as the Reds took a 7-3 lead into the 9th.
Emilio Pagan took over for the Reds and was looking to close the book and help end the 3-game losing streak. He would get a fly ball to left for the first out, but Mike Trout worked a walk to try and get a rally going for Los Angeles. That didn’t happen as Pagan rebounded by getting a pop up and then another fly ball to left to end the game.
Key Moment of the Game
The bottom of the 1st inning that saw Cincinnati push four runs across the plate.
Notes Worth Noting
Elly De La Cruz had himself a nice day, picking up three hits with two of them being doubles, walking once, stealing two bases, and scoring a run. He was the only Red to have multiple hits, but thanks to nine walks there were five other guys who reached base at least twice.
One of those other guys was Sal Stewart, who picked up a hit and walked twice. The rookie is now hitting .340/.469/.660 through 64 plate appearances. He has more walks (7) than strikeouts (6).
Cincinnati’s bullpen of Connor Phillips (0.2 IP), Pierce Johnson (1.1 IP), Graham Ashcraft (1.0 IP), Tony Santillan (1.0 IP), and Emilio Pagan (1.0 IP) combined for 5.0 shutout innings in the game.
Both pitching staffs walked nine batters and had more walks than strikeouts in the game. The two starting pitchers combined for 11 walks in just 6.0 innings thrown between them.
Up Next for the Cincinnati Reds
Los Angeles Angels vs. Cincinnati Reds
Sunday April 12th, 1:40pm ET
Jose Soriano (3-0, 0.45 ERA) vs Andrew Abbott (0-1, 3.18 ERA)
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