The Cincinnati Reds offense was quiet on Wednesday night. The Colorado Rockies bats were not. Hunter Goodman hit two home runs and got on base four times as the visiting team clobbered Cincinnati 13-2 to even up the series at one game for each club, with Thursday’s finale still to come.
Walks will haunt and in the 1st inning that’s exactly what they did to Brandon Williamson and the Reds. The lefty gave up a 1-out double and then with two outs he walked both Hunter Goodman and Willi Castro to load the bases. Brett Sullivan then unloaded the bases on a double to the wall in right field to put the Rockies up 3-0.
Cincinnati had a chance to get a run back in the bottom of the inning when Matt McLain singled and then stole second base. Sal Stewart then singled up the middle, but Ezequiel Tovar made a diving stop deep in the grass and he came up firing to the plate and got McLain by 10-15 feet to end the inning. Two innings later the Rockies would tack on another run after a leadoff walk by Brenton Doyle led to him scoring on a double by Castro that pushed their lead to 4-0.
After three innings the Reds went to the bullpen and Luis Mey. It was announced later in the game that Williamson exited the game with left shoulder fatigue. Mey, fresh off of being called up from Triple-A Louisville, came into the game. After a scoreless 4th inning he would give up a 1-out solo home run to Hunter Goodman.
Cincinnati would get the first two batters on in the 6th when McLain singled and De La Cruz walked. McLain took third base on a fly out to right. De La Cruz tried to steal second base but was thrown out and then another fly out would end the inning and leave the Reds empty in their best scoring opportunity of the game.
Colorado would put more runs on the board in the top of the 7th against Jose Franco as Hunter Goodman hit his second home run of the game – a 2run shot that landed several rows deep into the upper deck in left field and then got a sacrifice fly later in the inning as they pushed their lead to eight runs.
Down by eight in the 9th inning the Reds sent catcher Jose Trevino to the mound to save an arm for a game that maybe is winnable on Thursday afternoon. The Rockies were able to take full advantage of the middle-school level batting practice pitches and scored five more runs to push their lead to 13-0 before a diving catch by Spencer Steer in right field mercifully ended the frame.
Cincinnati was able to avoid being shut out in this one. Tyler Stephenson led off with a double and then Will Benson came off of the bench and hit a 2-run home run. The Reds picked up two more singles in the inning but couldn’t push either of those runners across the plate as the game ended in an 11-run loss.
Key Moment of the Game
The 3-run 7th inning for the Rockies. While 5-0 was probably enough to get it done, you don’t really know how things will go at Great American Ball Park. But 8-0 with nine outs to go will do it.
Notes Worth Noting
As noted above – Brandon Williamson exited the game after the 3rd inning with what the Reds called shoulder fatigue. The postgame show mentioned that he was going to get an MRI on Thursday.
Matt McLain was the only Red with more than one hit in the game.
Up Next for the Cincinnati Reds
Colorado Rockies vs Cincinnati Reds
Thursday April 30th, 12:40pm ET
Michael Lorenzen (2-2, 5.97 ERA) vs Andrew Abbott (0-2, 6.59 ERA)