The Cincinnati Reds trailed by six runs in the 8th inning and led by four runs in the 9th inning and somehow wound up with a tie. Spring training baseball, right?
| Final | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oakland Athletics (2-2-1) |
14 | 17 | 1 |
| Cincinnati Reds (2-2-1) |
14 | 12 | 1 |
| W: No L: No TIE: YES |
|||
| Box Score | Game Thread | |||
The Highlights
What a wild game this one turned out to be. Oakland grabbed an early 2-0 lead, scoring twice off of Graham Ashcraft in the 1st. He’d toss a shutout 2nd inning before reaching his pitch count and turning the game over to the bullpen. Cincinnati got one of those runs back in the 3rd inning when Curt Casali doubled to plate Jonathan India. That’s where the score stayed until the Athletics scored a run in each of the 5th and 6th innings to extend things to 4-1.
Cincinnati grabbed two of those runs back after Matt McLain walked (something he did all three times he came to the plate on Wednesday) and scored on a 2-run homer by Richie Martin. Things were just starting to get crazy at this point. Oakland scored two runs in the top of the 7th, the Reds countered with a run of their own on an Allan Cerda solo homer in the bottom of the frame. Then the Athletics put up four runs in the top of the 8th.
The Reds were trailing 10-4 entering the bottom of the 8th and that’s when they went off. The Reds led off the inning with three consecutive walks to bring Christian Encarnacion-Strand to the plate. One of the top home run hitters in minor league baseball last season, the Reds #7 prospect hit a grand slam to cut the lead to 10-8. After a pitching change, Allan Cerda walked and moved up to third base when Jay Allen II doubled. A ground out from Alejo Lopez played Cerda to make it a 1-run game. Another ground out followed and brought in Allen II to tie the game up.
With the bases empty and two outs the Redlegs weren’t finished just yet. Noelvi Marte and Nick Martini had back-to-back singles before Matt McLain walked to load the bases. Richie Martin then unloaded them with a 3-run double to make it 13-10. Christian Encarnacion-Strand then followed up with an RBI single, giving the Reds a 14-10 lead and Encarnacion-Strand his 5th RBI of the inning. That was the last of the runs, but there were 10 of them in the inning.
Holding a 14-10 lead and heading into the 9th inning the Reds turned things over to Tayron Guerrero. Things didn’t go as well as anyone on the Cincinnati side of the field would have liked. Guerrero hit the first batter before giving up a single, and a 2-run triple to make it 14-12. A single followed to plate another run and the Reds lead was suddenly just one run. A pinch-hitter came off of the bench and singled to put the tying run at second base with no outs. Guerrero clamped down and got a force out, but the tying run moved up to third base. That led to Oakland calling on a pinch runner at first base. On the bright side, Guerrero struck out the next batter. On the not-so-bright side, the third strike was a wild pitch that brought in the tying run and moved the go-ahead run up to second base. A fly out would end the top of the 9th, but with the game now tied the two had to play a bottom of the 9th.
Noelvi Marte would pick up a 2-out single, but a ground ball ended the inning and because it’s spring training, that meant that the game was over in a 14-14 tie.
Jonathan India went 1-1 with two walks and a stolen base. Noelvi Marte finished 2-4. Richie Martin went 2-2 with a walk, steal, and he drove in five runs. Allan Cerda went 1-1 with two walks. Jay Allen II went 2-3 with a double.
Ian Gibaut tossed a perfect inning with three strikeouts. Alexis Diaz threw a shutout inning with a walk and two strikeouts.
Thursday’s Game
There is no game for Thursday. The team will return to the field on Friday afternoon for a 3:05pm ET match up against the Chicago White Sox.
Some good performances today, sadly not many were by pitchers.
The prospects who started the game (De La Cruz, McGarry, Siani) didn’t get it going today but the prospects who entered halfway on killed it!
McLain – 3 walks and has now reached in 7 of 9 plate appearances
Cerda – HR and 2 walks. Can’t say enough how much him figuring it out changes the ceiling of the reds short term future
Marte – 2 more hits and is up to .444 in the early part of spring
Allen – double and single in his first spring training action. He’s been in the system a few years but some may need reminded he’s only 20 years old
CES – grand slam and a single for 5 RBI in the same inning. I don’t think it’s going to be long before he’s up in Cincinnati for good. Just hope he takes a few more walks this year before he gets the call.
Not prospect related but just wanted to throw some more praise Gibaut’s way. Faced 6 batters this spring and struck out 6 batters. Diaz, Farmer, Sims, Gibaut, Cruz, Sanmartin + Antone and Santillan eventually is a strong pen
Wasn’t supposed to be a reply. My bad LDS
NP. I mostly agree with your assessment but I’m far more skeptical of the future of the bullpen.
I am somewhat skeptical as well. Would be nice to have one more high end guy to pair with Diaz before im comfortable saying that
I really wanted a closer to be signed, but we didn’t because we have Antone, Santillan, and Sims coming back…and bob won’t spend money.
Clawed back ahead only to watch it fritter away. That’s ST for you.
Again scores do not matter in Spring training games, especially on March 1st. Hitters hit, pitchers pitch and no one gets injured. Nothing else matters at this point.
+1
Sounds like “F Troop”. 🙂
Looks like CES is the star of ST so far. Of course it would be great if he keeps it up.
“A ground out from Alejo Lopez played Cerda to make it a 1-run game”.
That’s just another form of “small ball” that makes a difference between winning and losing compared to swinging for the fences and striking out in those kind of situations.
CES is killing it, but McLain’s star is shining just a bit brighter. I’m looking forward more to the Bats than the Reds this year. Hopefully that will quickly change with the promotions of some prospects tearing up AAA competition, and graduating to the Reds roster.
Yep. I agree.
that body type of Incarnation’s screams first baseman to me. Not sure it will play at third or left field but he ought to be tried at both to keep his value and options open. Kyle Schwarber looked terrible in the field his first few years but he has really worked at becoming passable. If you can hit like Encarnacion can and work into a passable defender then its hard to keep that player out of a starting lineup.
We still need lots of pitching. 3 good starters isn’t near enough. Young guys need to step up this year.
A truly titanic struggle between two of most lousy teams in the bigs, but the future looks bright for the Reds!
I like CES as well. The Reds have quite an infield coming, three starting pitchers, and a closer. The pitching overall is terrible, and the future outfield needs help. If the Reds cannot sign India in the next year or two, he will be a good trade chip for a top young outfield prospect I think India should get an extension, but have my doubts the Reds will give him one. I think India will want a lot of money. The Reds are going to have to spend money for pitching help in 2024 and 2025.
I’m going to disagree with you William about the pitching. I think Green, Lodolo and Ashcraft constitute a decent to really good top three (floor vs. ceiling). Options for the bullpen look better than in recent years, and while health will always influence success I have a much more positive take than “the pitching overall is terrible”.
To be completely honest I disagree with you.
Tons of young arms ready to contribute and under control, reds still have 3-4 years before they even need to consider trading them. Starting Pitchers will have Lodolo and Greene as the aces, Ashcraft as a solid #3, 4 and 5 will be filled by Dunn, Overton, Williamson, Stoudi, weaver, possible Cessa, this seems like a rough #4 or 5, but soon you have Abbott and Phillips, and behind them you got Petty, I think all 3 will become good pitchers.
Bullpen looks the best it has been in the last decade. Antone would have been nice but still you’re talking Diaz, Farmer, Sims, Cruz, Santilla, Gaubit, all guys I trust decently.
I don’t understand why India would be considering for money, he is going into his 3rd season, I mean he’s coming out of a slump not a whole lot of trade power, I believe 2023 will be more of his ROTY self, but while I love him he would be one of my trade chips. Why? Because you legit got Marte, CES, EDLC, McGarry, MCLain, 2023-2024. I hate to be the negative guy but from a few games of ST McLain, Marte, CES stand out, It will be interesting but I understand that if Cincinnati wants a winning culture like Cleavland they are going to have to trade vets, and to be fair McLain, marte, Elly got tons of star talent.
It would suck to lose India or Stephonson, but to be fair calling the reds trash, for not giving extensions because to be fair they have been injury prone. I just think if you wanna win for the next 7 years or more then we gotta be able to let go when talent booms in the minors.
Also I wanna say the OF depth isn’t bad at all IMO, not heavy top OF prospects but, Fridel, Fraley, Fairchild, Myers (contract signing), Benson, Senzel. I think all of them could have good years, except Nick Senzel tbh.
Gotta give credit to Nick Krall, Benson was a great pickup, that Mahle trade was dirty, CES is a stud, Steer is a solid player and on top of that Marte looks like he can hit from the Castillo trade, arroyo, Stoudi maybe a bit away but that’s the goal to have talent knocking on the door each year.
I think this team can be super interesting year, a lot or rebounds, and while I hope barrero proves his worth, he’s athletic, great defender, but he can’t make regular contact. I’m most intrigued with India, Strphonson, Benson, Steer, and Fraley, I think 2-3 become allstars
I like India. I’m just not sure you pay much for a 2nd baseman in todays’ MLB unless they are 4-5 WAR player. We’ve got all these middle infielders coming up and will need to find places.
As you note, money is going to need to be sent on starting pitching and the outfield.
To be fair, India was a 4 WAR player as a rookie. I think he can reach that level again pretty easily if he stays healthy
Like how ECS is coming along. Wanna see EDC do the same. Lotta time til 3/30
I meant CES. DUH
I also follow other teams besides the Reds. If you are going to depend on this Reds pitching roster to develop into a championship team, you will end up disappointed. I am also following Texas, and they spent money on pitching. I want to see the Reds win a World Series. I watched the Houston Astros win the World Series last year. Their pitching staff is so much better than the Reds, it begs description. The Reds are not even close to the Houston Astros in overall quality and depth of pitchers besides the three top starters and closer. I do not see a roster of pitchers that will win a World Series in a few years. The Reds will need to spend money on pitching, or they will not have a chance. I have been watching the same pitchers you have. I am impressed with the three top starters and the closer. Most people looking at this pitching roster from outside this organization are not impressed either.
Doug – what happened with the Kenny Vargas signing? I was looking forward to him launching home runs. Did he get a better deal to stay in Japan/Korea?
I have no idea. I was looking for more information on it a few days ago and I found nothing.
Ashcraft with some nice consistency, picking up where he left off in the 2nd half of 2022 :/
On most teams what happens in the spring has little to do with who breaks camp and heads north with the team.For this team it should mean much much more but will it?Sure there are players that have jobs locked up but there are in my mind several jobs open on the mound and in the field that should be decided based on their spring performance.We shall see of course but it will be interesting.