The Cincinnati Reds wasted opportunity after opportunity on Friday night in Sacramento as they left 11 runners on base. The Athletics hit three home runs, which held up as they picked up a shutout win to open up the series.
FinalRHECincinnati Reds (74-73)060Athletics (68-80)361W: Ferguson (4-2) L: Singer (13-10) SV: Newcomb (2)Statcast | Box Score | Game Thread
The first two hitters of the game drew walks, but the Cincinnati Reds were unable to do anything with it as they went in order after that. Lawrence Butler then led off the bottom of the 1st with a home run to put the Athletics on top. In the 2nd inning Will Benson led off with a triple. The next three batters struck out as Cincinnati wasted another opportunity.
Things didn’t get better in the 3rd inning when a hit batter then a single and a stolen base by Elly De La Cruz put two Reds in scoring position with one out, but for the third consecutive inning they couldn’t come through. Carlos Cortes led off the bottom of the inning with a home run to extend the home team’s lead to 2-0.
In the 5th inning the Reds would pick up back-to-back 1-out walks but as you likely guessed – they came up empty again. The 6th inning saw a lead off walk and a 2-out single give Cincinnati another chance. Like the rest of the game to that point they came up short and stranded both runners once again. TJ Friedl would lead off the 7th inning with a single but was promptly erased on a double play by pinch hitter Miguel Andujar.
After six innings of 2-run baseball by Brady Singer, the Reds turned things over to their bullpen. Chase Burns entered the game to make his first appearance out of the bullpen. In his first game since returning from the injured list he picked up a strikeout and two groundouts to fire a perfect inning in the 7th.
Austin Hays led off the 8th inning with a single. After back-to-back strikeouts, Spencer Steer picked up a 2-out single to bring the go-ahead run to the plate. On a 1-0 pitch the Reds executed a double steal that didn’t even get a throw from the catcher. Ke’Bryan Hayes hit the ball 99 MPH back up the middle, but the ball hit pitcher Justin Sterner, who was able to recover and pick up the ball and throw Hayes out to end the inning.
Chase Burns returned to the mound for the bottom of the 8th and he gave up the third home run of the game to begin an inning and the second such to Carlos Cortes, who hit it 413 feet to center to extend the Athletics lead to 3-0. Two 1-out singles put Burns in a jam, but he escaped it with a long fly out and a line out to center.
Down by three runs, Cincinnati needed to get the offense going in the 9th inning if they wanted to see the bottom of the frame in Sacramento. That didn’t happen as they went down in order on strikeouts.
Key Moment of the Game
The second home run of the night by Carlos Cortes. While Cincinnati never wound up scoring, a bloop and a blast felt sort of maybe possible. But three runs?
Notes Worth Noting
The Reds went 0-12 with runners in scoring position. The Athletics went 0-3, but they hit three home runs.
TJ Friedl went 1-2 with two walks.
Elly De La Cruz stole his 35th base of the season in the game. He’s just the 4th player since 1900 to steal 35 bases in each of his first three seasons. Bert Daniels did so in 1910-1912, Vince Coleman did it in 1985-1987, and Delino DeShields did so in 1990-1992.
With the Mets loss the Reds didn’t lose any ground to the Mets. San Francisco, who was tied with Cincinnati entering the night, are currently tied with the Dodgers in the 10th inning.
Up Next for the Cincinnati Reds
Cincinnati Reds vs Athletics
Saturday September 13th, 10:05pm ET
Hunter Greene (6-4, 2.59 ERA) vs Luis Severino (6-11, 4.67 ERA)
