“The baseball world starts looking in right now on Sonny Gray and this is what we’ve seen all night long. Strikeout after strikeout, for Gray. Well-placed fastballs, snapping curveballs and basically a mismatch right now between Gray and the Mariners’ lineup.” — Chris Welsh, at the start of the bottom of the seventh
Well, the eye’s of the baseball world must have spelled Gray’s demise because to start the seventh, Sonny Gray, who had no-hit the Mariners until that point, went walk, walk, flyout, three-run home run. Both the no-hitter and the lead gone in the blink of an eye. It was Gray’s 105th pitch of the game and his third trip through the lineup. The next hitter also singled and that was all she wrote for Sonny.
| Final | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cincinnati Reds (67-79) | 3 | 5 | 1 |
| Seattle Mariners (60-86) | 5 | 4 | 0 |
| W: Gonzales (15-11) L: Gray (10-7) S: Bass (4) | |||
| FanGraphs Win Probability | Statcast | Box Score | Game Thread | |||
THE GOOD
— Sonny Gray’s first six innings were some of the masterful frames I’ve seen a Red toss this year. He was nipping corners with his fastball and flummoxing hitters with his breaking stuff. Gray racked up strikeout after strikeout, untouchable and certainly unhittable. With his nine strikeouts, Gray now sits at 190 for the season, with three starts to do something no pair of Reds have ever done.
— Curt Casali put on a nice bit of situational hitting in the top of the third, singling through the shift and sending Jose Peraza to third with nobody out. After an Alex Blandino strikeout, Joey Votto doubled to put the Reds in the lead. Seems a good a time as any to point out the Reds batted only a single lefty against Marco Gonzalez despite his reverse splits. Oh well, glad the lefty was up at the right time then. Also, this:
Double number 4?0?0? for Joey Votto! ?
That makes him the third Red in franchise history to accomplish the feat!#BornToBaseball pic.twitter.com/6UVHjs5cWt
— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) September 12, 2019
— Phillip Ervin hit one of those home runs that could tightrope a clothesline without skipping a thread in the top of the fourth. Gonzalez’s pitch came in at the shoulders and about 400 feet later it cruised right over the centerfield fence. If you blinked, I wouldn’t blame you for wondering if Ervin had hit it with a golf driver rather than a bat.
THE BAD
— Sonny Gray’s seventh inning. Just very not good.
Well, Sonny Gray loses his no-hitter on a 3-run home run that puts the Mariners ahead 3-2 in the bottom of the 7th inning.
That feels about right for how the Cincinnati season has gone.
— Redleg Nation (@redlegnation) September 12, 2019
— Kyle Lewis. Nothing against him as a human or anything, but we Reds fans are sad. Can you please just stop hitting homers to break up no-hitters?
— The Mariners iced their lead in the bottom of the eighth with a pair of runs off of Kevin Gausman. Casali ended up bailing out Gausman by catching Kyle Seager stealing third after the Mariners’ third baseman doubled. The Reds have an interesting decision to make with Gausman for next season, as detailed by Matt Wilkes.
NOT SO RANDOM THOUGHTS
— For a second, I really thought I was going to get to write the no-hitter recap. The weight of responsibility had already begun to settle in the crick of my lower back that flares up when I get nervous about something. I was considering Googling Whitman or Shakespeare to add some gravity to the situation. Alas, poor Yorick, the bleeding drops of Red. I write instead on the headline deck, my team has fallen yet again.
— This stat is fun, but yet it is small consolation:
Beginning 8/25/18 and including tonight, Sonny Gray has made 31 straight starts allowing 6 hits or fewer, tying Nolan Ryan’s ML record (5/1/91-6/1/92) & excluding “openers”. In his last 14 starts beginning 6/28, Gray has posted an ERA of 1.75 with 12 quality starts. @EliasSports
— Reds Media Relations (@RedsPR) September 12, 2019
— Funny how throwing a near no-hitter will speed the game up. This West Coast special only lasted 2 hours and 59 minutes.
— Remember when we had this guy in our minor league system? Good times, good times.
Have a g?a?m?e? — wait … have an INNING Taylor Trammell!
The #Padres prospect has a triple and homer for @sodpoodles … and it's still the first inning!
Check him out on the @Padres Top 30: https://t.co/z72mEGzFCU pic.twitter.com/HyWnUORtHw
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) September 12, 2019
UP NEXT
Reds at Mariners, 10:10 pm EST
Tyler Mahle (2-11, 4.94) vs. Justin Dunn (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
Derek
Don’t pay any attention to Trammel’s exploits especially with the haul this team received in that blockbuster of a deal….
I would agree, but for the past number of years. Losing and high draft choices are, so far, begetting more losing and high draft choices. Maybe it’s time to follow the process instead of the product, except that the process seems to be equally maddening.
It is getting rough, when a fast game takes 2:59 to play.
Agreed! The trade deadline rumor about a “controllable hitter” was scoffed at by C Trent at the Athletic- I dunno. That was exactly what we needed! Likely could have won this division this year with bigger bats, and fewer blowout losses on the shoulders of Wood and Bauer
In hoping the A’s or Indians magically make it into the playoffs… which seems right for me because I actually thought the Reds had a shot at the division
*I’m
Hang on who are the WLBs? Sorry – I will follow you on the no cubs yanks dodgers path though
I am so happy that Dish and Sinclair (Fox Sports Ohio Owner) cant reach an agreement! I don’t have to watch this mess!
At least joey hit the ball to end the game. He normally takes strike three. A big improvement for joe. Reds have a losing culture. Three winning seasons in the last 19 yrs. The reds have sucked for two decades. They are a clueless organization. Pray for new owner our only real hope.