The Cincinnati Reds (27-27) won the game and the series over the Chicago White Sox (34-19). The offense put up a 5-spot in the 4th inning to get things rolling and they never looked backed. Michael Lorenzen had another good spot start and the bullpen was solid, covering the final 4.1 innings of the game.
| Final | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chicago White Sox (34-19) |
3 | 6 | 0 |
| Cincinnati Reds (27-27) |
7 | 5 | 0 |
| W: Sims (3-0) L: Cease (5-3) |
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| Statcast | Box Score | Game Thread | |||
The Offense
Dylan Cease walked a tight rope for a while against the Reds offense on Sunday. He had a clean first inning, but walked two batters in the second and hit another one to load the bases with two outs, but got Tucker Barnhart to ground out to strand the bases loaded. In the third inning the Reds drew two more walks off of Cease, but couldn’t pick up a hit to do anything once again, keeping the game scoreless.
Then came the 4th inning. Jesse Winker, Brian Goodwin, and Freddy Galvis all walked to start the inning. That was the end of the day for Cease as the White Sox went to the bullpen. Ross Detwiler came in and got Tucker Barnhart to ground out, but that put the Reds on the board with a 1-0 lead. Aristides Aquino followed up as a pinch hitter and broke his bat on a ground out, but it brought in another run to make it 2-0 despite not yet having a hit. Chicago opted to intentionally walk Nick Castellanos to face Joey Votto with a lefty on the mound. That plan failed as Votto walked to load the bases. Then Eugenio Suárez walked to bring in a run and make it 3-0 without a hit on the board. Mike Moustakas came up big with Cincinnati’s first hit, a 2-run single on a ground ball up the middle to make it 5-0.
After watching the White Sox get two runs in the top of the 5th, the Reds offense went to work in the bottom half. Freddy Galvis led off with a single, and one out later, Aristides Aquino hit the 4th pitch he saw 428 feet into the stands for a 2-run homer to extend the Cincinnati lead to 7-2. That was the last time the Reds scored, but it was all that they needed on the day.
The Pitching
Michael Lorenzen had to work out of a jam in the first inning after an infield single and a blooper into center put two runners on, but he worked his way out of it unscathed. He was cruising from there until the top of the 5th inning. A 1-out walk to Luis Robert and a single by Yolmer Sanchez put two men on. He would strike out Tim Anderson, but manager David Bell went to the bullpen with a 5-0 lead, giving the ball to Lucas Sims to try and get one more out.
It didn’t quite work as planned. Nick Madrigal legged out an infield single for an RBI, and then Jose Abreu doubled in another run to make it 5-2 for Cincinnati. Sims would get the next batter to hold the score there. He came back out for the 6th inning and got the White Sox to go in order and hold onto a lead that was now 7-2. Sims walked the the first two batters to begin the 7th inning before a visit from pitching coach Derek Johnson. The reliever would go on to then strike out the next three batters to strand two on and maintain the lead. After throwing 54 pitches, though, don’t expect to see Sims take the mound for the next few days.
Archie Bradley came out for the 8th inning to try and protect a 7-2 lead. After striking out the first batter of the inning, Edwin Encarnacion took Bradley deep for a solo homer to cut the Cincinnati lead to 7-3. Bradley clamped down and got a fly out and a ground out to end the inning with just the one run surrendered.
Raisel Iglesias took over in the 9th inning. He would get a shattered bat lazy fly out, a quick ground out, and 3-pitch strikeout to seal the Reds 27th win of the season.
Notes Worth Noting
Six games remaining
Sitting at 27-27, the Reds have six games left in the regular season. They’ll welcome in the Brewers tomorrow for a 3-game series and it’s a big one as the two teams are fighting for their playoff lives.
Joey Votto is the king of walks, officially
Joey Votto is now the Cincinnati Reds franchise leader in walks after drawing three of them on Sunday afternoon. He now has 1211 of them in his career.
Up Next for the Cincinnati Reds
Milwaukee Brewers vs. Cincinnati Reds
Monday September 21st, 6:40pm ET
Brandon Woodruff (2-4, 3.45 ERA) vs Luis Castillo (3-5, 3.03 ERA)
Got the chance, now do it.
HAVE to take 2 out of 3 from the crew, and 2 out of 3 from the Twinkies.
31 should do it.
Unbelievable … 11 walks. And there could have been a few more if we were a little more patient. But the result is that coveted “W” and on we go into the final 6 games. Just 10% of our season will determine what comes next.
#embracetheweird
#justletusin
Schrödinger’s Reds continue …
The Reds deficit in hits was made up with a plethora of walks.
been a fan of the Reds since the 1950’s and i got to tell you, Michael Lorenzen is in the top 10 of my all time favorite players. The guy is a gamer and always does what he is asked to do. starting pitcher, reliever, pinch hitter, center fielder, pinch runner. he is amazing!
This was a big game and win for the Reds today. But from here on out they just keep on getting bigger. Tomorrow the Brew Crew hits town; and, we start all over again.
These games against Milwaukee are essentially worth double since count toward the tiebreaker should the Reds get into that situation.
Just win Reds. Any way; any score. Just win
I hope they are managed as they should be—like win-or-die playoff games
The series with the Brewers feels like a playoff. Reds need to take 2 and would be well served to take all 3 and sweep Milwaukee out of contention.
Castillo tomorrow, possibly Gray on Tuesday. Does Bauer pitch Wednesday on three days rest? It’s go time.
And, if possible, the trio of Castillo, Gray and Bauer go next weekend to close out the season at Minnesota.
Just think 2 weeks ago the Reds were put out to pasture. One week to go and they still have a chance. Cant ask for anything more than that. Yeah they stunk it up hitting wise for the season but they didnt lay down 2 weeks ago. They gutted it out and here we go. Win or lose at least we got a chance at the end of September to some meaningful baseball. And for that I am truely grateful. Go get em Little Red Machine.
The Reds rarely win series from AL teams, especially really good AL teams, so this is certainly something to celebrate. The Brewers just swept the Royals so they are feeling their oats and now have 3 with the Reds and 5 with the Cardinals. The entire season now condensed into one playoff week for the Reds, Brew Crew and Redbirds. This should be quite the interesting, exciting week!
The Cards to me seem to have 2nd place almost wrapped up. They own the tie breaker with Reds so effectively they would have to lose 4 more times than the Reds in the final week. Possible but unlikely.
Must win series against the Brewers, need at least 2 wins then need to win series against Twins. They are competing with Phillies, San Francisco, Milwaukee for that final spot. The other 3 teams have the advantage of having one less loss than the Reds. Phillies end with 3 against the Rays who are good but might not be motivated. San Fran ends with 3 against Padres who seemed to be locked into 2nd slot in NL and might not be motivated either.
Good Times indeed. KEEP AQUINO IN THE LINEUP!