The Cincinnati Reds played two games on Sunday and both games ended in blowout wins for someone. Cincinnati beat up on the Arizona Diamondbacks at home in a 13-4 victory, but the Reds got clobbered in the road game against the Padres that saw San Diego win 14-3.
Diamondbacks vs Reds: The Highlights
Cincinnati got a scoreless top of the 1st inning from Brady Singer. The Reds offense then put together a rally to bring in a run after TJ Friedl walked to begin the inning and then saw Matt McLain, Elly De La Cruz, and Spencer Steer follow up with singles to take a 1-0 lead.
Brady Singer followed up with two more shutout innings before turning the game over to Emilio Pagan for the 4th inning. The Reds closer retired the first two batters of the inning but then he walked Ryan Waldschmidt and paid the price for it as LuJames Groover followed with a double into the left-center gap to tie the game up.
In the 6th inning Elly De La Cruz reached on a throwing error. That led to Will Benson getting to hit with two outs and he came through with one of the strangest home runs you’re going to see. He hit a chopper that first made contact with the ground 12 feet from the plate but it went over the head of the first baseman and hugged the line and then got by the right fielder and rolled to the wall as Benson turned on the speed and rounded the bases for an inside-the-park 2-run homer that put Cincinnati up 3-1.
Luis Mey came out to pitch the next inning and gave one of the runs back. After getting the first two batters out he gave up a single, had a passed ball advance the runner, and then gave up an RBI ground-rule double that made it a 3-2 game before striking out the next hitter to end the top of the 6th. In the bottom of the inning the Reds got that run back on two doubles that were about as opposite as they could be. Christian Encarnacion-Strand doubled off of the wall and nearly hit it through the wall in right as it had an exit velocity of 112 MPH. Rece Hinds then blooped a double the other way with an exit velocity of just 76 MPH that plated a run.
Cincinnati wasn’t done there, though. Prospect Carlos Jorge came through with an RBI triple to center and then Rafhlmil Torres came through with an RBI double as the lead was extended to 6-2. Tyson Lewis then went the other way for a 439-foot home run that came off the bat at 110 MPH to make it 8-2.
Arizona got some of that back in the top of the 7th against Graham Ashcraft. He gave up a single to begin the inning and then the first pitch to Jordan Lawlar went 392 feet for a 2-run home run. Ashcraft would retire the next four hitters, including the first one of the 8th before he was replaced by Darren McCaughan who got out of the inning unscathed.
When the 8th inning rolled around the Reds youngster hitters went back to work. After Rafhlmil Torres reached on an error Tyson Lewis followed up with a single. A pitching change came next but it made no difference as Ryan McCrystal crushed a 3-run homer down the right field line. Three batters later it was Zavier Warren that came through with a home run of his own, a 2-run blast that went 403 feet into left center that made it 13-4 for the Reds.
Darren McCaughan returned to the mound for Cincinnati in the top of the 9th inning and got a 1-2-3 inning to seal the win as the Reds moved to 7-6 for the time being.
You can see the box score for this game here.
Reds vs Padres: The Highlights
It was a tough start for Chase Burns in the 1st inning. He gave up a 1-out double and then a 2-out walk before Gavin Sheets hit a long 3-run home run. The next inning he retired the first two batters before giving up a single and then an RBI triple that made it 4-0. Things went better in the 3rd inning for Burns as he tossed a perfect inning on 14 pitches. He returned for the 4th inning and got the first two batters out before reaching his pitch limit for the day and handing things over to Nate Peterson who completed the inning on five pitches.
Chase Petty came on in relief and tossed two shutout innings, sending the game to the 7th still at 4-0. In the top of that inning the Reds finally got on the board with a little help from the Padres pitching as P.J. Higgins was hit by a pitch with two outs to extend the inning. Two pitches later Cincinnati’s top prospect Alfredo Duno hit a 2-run home run into left-center to make it 4-2.
San Diego got one of those runs back thanks to some wild pitching from Zach Maxwell. He seemed like he was going to be able to work around a walk, but on what was his third strikeout of the inning he threw a wild pitch and the batter was able to reach first base. Another wild pitch to the next batter followed and that brought in a run.
Kevin Abel took over for the Reds in the bottom of the 8th and like Maxwell he was struggling with his control. He walked four batters in the inning, bringing in a run while recording just one out before he was replaced on the mound by Jared Lyons. Things went from bad to worse as Lyons threw two run-scoring wild pitches, gave up an RBI single, an RBI double, and a 3-run home run before recording an out. He eventually got out of the inning but it was 14-2 before that happened.
Cincinnati started out the top of the 9th inning with a single from Ruben Ibarra and then a double from Mason Neville. Ibarra would come in to score on a ground out but it would be the final run of the game. This one ended about four minutes after the game in Goodyear did, bringing the Reds back to .500 at 7-7.
You can see the box score for this game here.
News and Notes
The Reds won one and lost one. In both games the two teams involved scored 17 runs and both games were blowouts.
In the win over the Diamondbacks the Reds had eight extra-base hits, including four home runs. 12 different players had a hit for Cincinnati. Two players had multi-hit games and both of those guys came off of the bench. Those two guys – Tyson Lewis and Ryan McCrystal both homered in the game and both played in Single-A Daytona last year.
The pitching staff struck out 11 Arizona hitters and had just three walks. When the game was over the ERA on the spring of the Reds pitchers who made an appearance in this game were as follows: 9.00, 18.00, 10.13, 27.00, 27.00, and 1.93. The 1.93 belongs to Darren McCaughan, while the rest belong to guys who all pitched in Cincinnati last season.
In the loss to San Diego the Reds had three errors and threw five wild pitches, including one by Kevin Abel that missed the strikezone by about 15 feet. Hawkeye says the pitch height was 10.5 feet as it reached the plate, but I don’t believe that to be accurate. You be the judge.
Newly acquired Reds reliever Kyle Nicolas pitched this afternoon for Team Italy in the World Baseball Classic. He walked a batter, gave up two hits, and allowed two runs while recording just one out against Team Great Britain. On the flip side of that, Reds prospect David Lorduy threw 2.2 hitless innings for Team Colombia this afternoon against Team Cuba.
Monday will see the Reds at home and playing just one game. Rhett Lowder will start for Cincinnati as they host the Athletics at 4:05pm ET. The game will be radio only. Also scheduled to pitch in the game for the Reds: Connor Phillips, Sam Moll, Yunior Marte, and Tejay Antone.