The 12 Worst Losses of 2014

Discussing expectations for 2015, Brandon Phillips said, “Our goal coming to spring training is to win the World Series, and if we stay healthy and go out there and play small-ball and do the right things, I feel like we can achieve our goal as a team.”

We know the Reds didn’t stay healthy in 2014, but they also often did not do the right things. I take Phillips’ use of the term ‘small-ball’ not simply to mean moving a runner over with a groundout and getting him in with a sac fly, but also making good decisions, protecting late leads, and taking care of routine plays that can ultimately make the difference in a close game. The Reds lost 38 one-run games last year (up from 22 in ’13 and 21 in ’12), and they lost even more winnable games than that.

I started with 45 losses that I thought the Reds had a reasonable chance to win, and narrowed it down to 12 games they should’ve won in 2014:

1) Thursday, April 3 – 7-6 loss at home to the Cardinals

Down 4-3 in the 5^th, Bryan Price looked at his depleted bullpen and had to call on Nick Christiani, Logan Ondrusek, Trevor Bell and Curtis Partch to finish out the game. Christiani and Partch pitched admirably but Bell and Ondrusek allowed 2 walks and 3 singles to start the 7^th inning. The Cardinals finished their scoring on a 2-out wild pitch by Ondrusek, affording them just enough runs to hold the Reds off 7-6.

2) Saturday, April 5 — 6-3 road loss to the Mets

A 2-run homer to Curtis Granderson was Johnny Cueto’s lone blemish, and he gave way to Sam LeCure in the bottom of the 8^th with the Reds up 3-2. LeCure retired David Wright, Granderson and Lucas Duda in order on 11 pitches, but he must’ve worn himself out because Bryan Price went to J. J. Hoover in the 9^th. To be fair, at this point in the season Hoover had given up nothing but a walk in 1.1 innings. But on this particular Saturday he faced the 6-9 positions in the Mets’ lineup and allowed all 4 batters to score on a walk-off pinch-hit grand slam by Ike Davis.

3) Tuesday, April 8 — 7-5 road loss to the Cardinals

In his second start of the season, Homer Bailey was staked to an early 4-0 lead. It was 4-4 before the game got to the 3^rd inning, but it could’ve been 4-1 if Todd Frazier hadn’t made an errant throw on a potentially inning-ending double play. With the Reds up 5-4, Ondrusek gave up 2 runs in the 6^th when a 2-out fly ball glanced off Jay Bruce’s glove in right and was scored a double.

4) Saturday, April 12 – 1-0 home loss to the Rays

Alfredo Simon made one mistake all day, resulting in a solo homerun by James Loney. With no outs and Votto on 2^nd base in the bottom of the 4^th, Brandon Phillips singled. Steve Smith waived Votto around 3^rd and he was thrown out easily. In the 6^th, Zack Cozart was on 3^rd with one out and Billy Hamilton’s fly ball to left wasn’t deep enough to get him home.

5) Monday, April 21 — 6-5 walkoff road loss to the Pirates

The Reds scored twice in the top of the 8^th to go up 5-4. However, Jay Bruce was thrown out at home with no one out, so they managed just 2 runs out of an inning that began with 2 singles, a double, an IBB and another single. Bryan Price brought in lefty Manna Parra to face right-handed Andrew McCutchen leading off the bottom of the 8^th. In his career, McCutchen has slugged 100 points better against lefties, and his OPS has been 137 points higher. He tied the game with a homer. J. J. Hoover couldn’t survive the two walks he allowed in the bottom of the 9^th, and Neil Walker walked off with an RBI single.

6) Tuesday, May 6 — 4-3 walkoff loss to the Red Sox at Fenway

Bryan Price’s lineup featured Chris Heisey, Skip Schumaker, Neftali Soto and Tucker Barnhart. Yet, the Reds started the 2^nd inning with a walk, a double and a single off of Felix Doubront, resulting in a run and Ryan Ludwick on 3^rd with no outs. He failed to score. Homer Bailey lost his control in the 3^rd inning and walked in a run before giving up another run on a single. The Reds tied it with 2 runs in the 8^th, but they could manage no more and Price was forced to pitch Ondrusek for 2 innings in extras. The Red Sox walked off against him with 3 straight singles to start the bottom of the 12^th.

7) Monday, May 26 — 4-3 road loss to the Dodgers

Due to errors by Todd Frazier and Zack Cozart, Johnny Cueto gave up 3 unearned runs. The Dodgers’ Hyun-Jin Ryu had a perfect game through 7 innings, but the Reds knocked him out in the 8^th, scoring 3 runs against Ryu and the Dodger bullpen. It wasn’t quite enough to come back.

8) Friday, June 20 — 14-9 home loss to the Blue Jays

Who could forget this one? The Reds sent 11 men to the plate in the bottom of the 2^nd inning and scored 8 runs on 7 hits, including 2 home runs. Mat Latos was lifted in the 6^th with the score 9-4 and two men on; Parra and Ondrusek walked back to back batters to make it 9-5.
In his major league debut, Jumbo Diaz gave up a solo shot and a 2-run homer to make it 9-8. Jonathan Broxton walked 2 in the 8^th and former Red Dioner Navarro doubled in the tying run. Chappy had a rare meltdown in the 9^th and the routers became the routed.

(It should be noted that the Reds won 8 of 9 after this game. One could argue that this embarrassing loss inspired them to play better for a while. We all know from Back to the Future 2 that when you change history, Biff becomes some sort of bizarro Donald Trump, and that’s not good for anyone. No, had the Reds won a certain game, they might’ve lost other games and Marty McFly’s sister might’ve disappeared completely from the polaroid.)

9) Saturday, July 12 — 6-5 home loss to the Pirates in 11 innings

The Reds took a 5-4 lead to the top of the 9^th, but Andrew McCutchen (again!) homered off Broxton to send the game to extras. In the bottom of the 10^th, Pirates reliever Ernesto Frieri walked the first two batters, and then Jay Bruce singled off Justin Wilson. Steve Smith decided to challenge the arm of Gregory Polanco with the slow-footed Ramon Santiago. The rookie’s aim was true and Santiago was out at the plate. After an intentional walk loaded the bases, Ludwick failed to get a ball in play, and Brayan Pena struck out too. McCutchen (double again!) took J. J. Hoover deep with 2 outs and nobody on in the 11^th for the winning run.

10) Sunday, August 17 — 10-9 road loss to the Rockies

This was probably the loss of the year. I’m willing to bet it was the game of the year for Drew Stubbs. In this first game of a double-header against the Rockies—the team with the worst record in the NL— Bryan Price called on his closer in the top of the 9^th, just to be sure 9-5 lead was safe. But Chapman walked all 4 batters he faced, causing Price to bring in Hoover with the bases loaded and no one out. After a sac fly and a line out it seemed that J. J. might actually get out of this one. But you had to guess the center fielder the Reds gave up on after 2012 would be swinging for the fence. Stubbs teed off and sent one into the sunset like Gary Cooper.

Obviously, they lost game 2 of the double-header, and the Cardinals walked off against them in 10 innings the next day, setting up:

11) Tuesday, August 19 — 5-4 walkoff loss to the Cardinals in St. Louis

The Reds took a 4-1 lead in the 6^th inning with Alfredo Simon on the mound. Simon was pulled after giving up a solo homer to Jhonny Peralta and a single. LeCure came on to allow the runner to score on a 2-out RBI single by pinch-hitter Shane Robinson. Jumbo Diaz blew the lead in the 8^th on a 2-out pinch-hit RBI double by Daniel Descalso.

2 days after the Drew Stubbs disaster, Bryan Price sent J. J. Hoover back out to lose his 10^th game of the year. Hoover walked the first batter he faced and gave up a single on the next pitch. At this point, Price had clearly conceded the game because he left Hoover in to walk the next batter and then hit Jon Jay for a walk-off HBP.

I’ve omitted as many September games as possible because the team was out of contention and looking at some call-up players. The lineup was often weak in September. Bryan Price recently said “Great teams are able to create runs in that bottom third of the order. We can’t have throwaway innings because we’re sitting seven, eight, nine.” You end up with a lot of throwaway innings when the 5-8 spots are full of bench players.

12) Sunday, September 7 — 4-3 home loss to the Mets

The Mets won this with 4 unearned runs. With one out and nobody on in the 6^th inning, Wilmer Flores lifted one to center that hit Billy Hamilton in the glove for a 2-base error. After what should’ve been a harmless single and an inning-ending pop foul, Anthony Recker hit a 2-run homer to make it 3-1. At least one of the homers hit off of J. J. Hoover in 2014 should’ve never happened. Curtis Granderson led off the 8^th inning with a pop foul to the first base side. Jack Hannahan waited under it and fell backwards as the ball hit the center of his open glove and dropped to the ground. A few pitches later Granderson pulled one out to right. The Reds scored 2 in the 9^th and Mesoraco struck out with the bases loaded to end it.

The Reds finished 12 games behind the Pirates and Giants, who earned the NL wild card spots. Had the bullpen been fully stocked in April, it’s possible our guys could’ve gotten off to a great start and maybe could’ve weathered the injury to Joey Votto like they did in 2012. Maybe a better record at the end of July would’ve inspired the front office to make a move. But ultimately, with Votto needing the offseason to get healthy, Hamilton and Simon declining in the second half, Jay Bruce enduring the worst season of his career, and late injuries to Bailey and Latos, it’s unlikely the Reds could’ve pulled together a playoff run.

Someone recently commented on this site that the majority of the Reds’ April schedule this year is against the NL Central and that they could go a long way towards contending with a strong month. Let’s hope they start 2015 healthy, focused, and doing the right things.

In response to Mat Latos’ questioning of the team’s leadership Joey Votto said, “We’re alright. We just lost last year. Last year, I would like to think was a bit of an aberration.”

Me too Joey, me too.