Daylen Lile led the home run parade with a pair of home runs, two of a season-high six for the Washington Nationals, as the Cincinnati Reds lost 10-4 in front of a crowd of 23,715 on Tuesday night at Great American Ball Park.
| Final | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|
| Washington Nationals (20-22) |
10 | 13 | 2 |
| Cincinnati Reds (22-20) | 4 | 10 | 0 |
| W: Brad Lord (2-0) L: Brady Singer (2-3) |
|||
| Statcast | Box Score | Game Thread | |||
Brady Singer went 1-2-3 in the first inning for the first time this season. Unfortunately for him, that was his best inning of the game. In the second inning, Daylen Lile hit a 106.7 mph comebacker for a single that landed a direct hit on Singer’s ankle. Singer did stay in the game and according to Jim Day, he got his ankle taped in the dugout at the end of the inning. However, he didn’t look like the same pitcher after that.
Coming into Tuesday’s game, Singer had allowed eight home runs this season. In the third inning tonight, the home runs continued when he gave up back-to-back solo home runs to James Wood and Luis Garcia Jr. Daylen Lile would hit a 415-foot home run halfway up the moon deck to make it 3-0 Nationals in the fourth inning. Singer didn’t make it out of the 4th, pitching 3.2 innings and allowing three runs on six hits with one walks and only two strikeouts. All three runs he allowed were solo home runs.
The Reds had a golden opportunity to have a big inning in the fourth against Miles Mikolas. Elly De La Cruz and Sal Stewart singled back-to-back, and JJ Bleday walked to force the bases loaded with no outs. Matt McLain drove in De La Cruz when he beat out a potential double play up the middle. Will Benson then had a great at-bat to re-load the bases with only one out. At this point, the Nationals pulled Mikolas and brought in Brad Lord from the bullpen. Tyler Stephenson hit a chopper that Brady House fumbled for his seventh error of the season, which scored Stewart from third and brought the score to 3-2. However, Ke’Bryan Hayes came to the plate next and promptly grounded into a tailor-made double play to end the inning.
The Nationals took advantage of the missed opportunities by the Reds almost immediately. Garcia Jr. led off the top of the fifth with his second home run of the game against Sam Moll, who had come on in relief of Singer in the previous inning. House walked, CJ Abrams singled, and after a pitching change and a Jacob Young force out, Luis Mey threw a 98.1 mph sinker right down the middle of the plate, which Daylen Lile crushed 429 feet for his second home run of the game.
House joined the home run party for Washington in the eighth, with a two-run home run off Tony Santillan on Santillan’s second pitch thrown to extend the lead to 9-2. The Nationals would make it 10-2 when Pierce Johnson allowed a two-out walk and a double to Jose Teña with two outs in the ninth.
Bleday singled in the ninth to drive in Steer and Stewart to decrease the lead to 10-4, but at that point, it was only helping the run differential just a little bit.
Key Moment of the Game
With one out in the fifth, Daylen Lile’s second home run of the game made the score 7-2, which effectively put the game out of reach for the Reds.
Notes Worth Noting
-The Nationals bullpen had an NL-worst 4.84 ERA coming into tonight’s game. Brad Lord and Paxton Schultz combined 4.2 innings of shut-out baseball. Zak Kent would give up two runs on three hits in the 9th, but at that point, it was a very low-leverage situation.
-While Luis Mey did allow the three-run home run to Lile, it was his only mistake. He pitched two innings, allowing one run on two hits. He struck out five and got Nationals hitters to swing and miss 10 times, most of Reds pitchers.
-Sal Stewart went 3-for-5 with two runs scored.
-Tonight’s loss was the fourth straight series-opening loss for the Reds, and in those games, the Reds have been out-scored 34-9.
Up Next
Washington Nationals vs. Cncinnati Reds
Wednesday, May 13, 6:40 PM EDT
Jake Irvin (1-4, 5.22 ERA) vs. Nick Lodolo (0-1, 6.75 ERA)