The Cincinnati Reds needed a bunch of runs on Tuesday night, and they got them thanks to five home runs – including two by Elly De La Cruz – in another come from behind win. Cincinnati’s offense put up 11 runs and the bullpen allowed one hit in six innings of relief to keep their playoff hopes alive in an 11-7 win over the Cleveland Guardians.
| Final | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cincinnati Reds (81-77) |
11 | 10 | 0 |
| Cleveland Guardians (74-84) |
7 | 9 | 1 |
| W: Moll (2-3) L: Karinchak (2-5) SV: Diaz (38) | |||
| Statcast | Box Score | Game Thread | |||
After striking out 14 batters in a dominant performance during his previous start, things went south for Hunter Greene on Tuesday night. In the bottom of the 2nd inning he gave up a 2-out, 3-run homer to Bo Naylor that put Cleveland up 3-0.
The Reds offense had Greene’s back. In the top of the 3rd inning they’d get a leadoff homer from Luke Maile. TJ Friedl walked and then scored on a triple by Spencer Steer to make it 3-2. Christian Encarnacion-Strand then capped off the inning with a 2-run homer to put Cincinnati ahead 4-3.
Cleveland stormed back in the bottom of the inning. They would get a 2-run homer from Kole Calhoun to take the lead back. Andres Gimenez followed up with a homer of his own to extend the Guardians lead to 6-4.
The Rally Reds weren’t going to go quietly into the night. Elly De La Cruz led off the 4th with a home run – his first in over a month. The Guardians had another rally in them and they would get a walk and a single to lead off the 4th against Greene and that ended his night as Cincinnati turned to Sam Moll. He would get a ground out to begin the outing, but both runners moved up a base. That led to an intentional walk of Jose Ramirez to try and set up a force out at any bag. It didn’t work and Josh Naylor picked up an RBI single that made it 7-5 before Moll would record the final two outs of the inning.
It was time for the Reds to get their rally on once again and they got a little bit of help this time as Christian Encarnacion-Strand got on via a throwing error by the pitcher to lead off the inning. Joey Votto walked to put two men on. After a pitching change, Elly De La Cruz singled and brought Encarnacion-Strand in to score, with De La Cruz taking second base on the throw to third base. Luke Maile then came through with a go-ahead single that drove in two and made it 8-7.
In the top of the 6th inning TJ Friedl picked up a home run for the 4th game in a row, a solo shot that made it 9-7. It was his 18th of the season, leaving him just two shy of turning in a 20-20 season.
Fernando Cruz took over for the Reds on the mound in the bottom of the 6th inning and he fired two perfect inning of relief. Lucas Sims came out and fired a perfect 8th inning as Cincinnati held onto their 2-run lead. In the top of the 9th inning Elly De La Cruz added to the Reds lead with a 467-foot, 2-run home run that had an exit velocity of 119.2 MPH.
Holding a 11-7 lead, Alexis Diaz entered the game. He walked Myles Straw to lead off the inning, but then retired the Guardians in order to guarantee a non-losing season as they picked up their 81st win of the season.
Key Moment of the Game
Luke Maile’s 2-run single in the top of the 5th inning that put the Reds up 8-7.
Notes worth noting
The 119.2 MPH exit velocity on the second home run by Elly De La Cruz is the top mark by a Red since they began tracking that back in 2015. It’s the 9th hardest hit baseball in the big leagues in that time. This was the first multi-homer game of his big league career.
TJ Friedl is the first Reds center fielder to homer in four straight games since Ken Griffey Jr.
The comeback win was the 48th of the year for Cincinnati. That’s tied for the most in baseball this year.
Up Next for the Cincinnati Reds
Cincinnati Reds vs Cleveland Guardians
Wednesday September 27th, 6:10pm ET
Andrew Abbott (8-5, 3.70 ERA) vs Shane Bieber (5-6, 3.91 ERA)
That was sweet. Came back TWICE!!! Way to get win #81 on the season. That’s a major accomplishment regardless of what happens for the rest of the week. And that version of EDLC was a treat to see again.
Bell will get mgr. of the year votes if not win it.
Maile the firs Reds catcher to do what he did offensively AND steal a base since Johnny Bench in 1978. Pretty cool for him.
Would like to see Luke back next year. Seems like every one of his 25 ribbies has been clutch. Easily the better defensive catcher and a mature, no nonsense presence about him.
Yeah. He’s a good guy to have on your team.
Braves take the lead. 🙂
Braves take the lead over the Cubbies, 7-6 in the 8th after being down 6-0. Go Braves!
Omg Suzuki let 2 runs score. Braves 7-6
Unbelievable
Just wow! Cubs have that play to scream about. Sometimes things work out.
Our man Iggy has to close it. Come on buddy. 🙂
Braves pull it out! Cubs lose! 😀
Braves win! Braves win! Cubs lose.
Believe till there is nothing left to believe for
I think they lost on an easy dropped fly ball. hahaha…..that’s not funny. 😀
Oh yea. It was on TBS and I saw it. At a tablet and cannot type well but it was exactly something a person would expect the Reds to do. Similar in a way to when Fairchild and Friedl converged in right center in San Fran and then neither made a play.
The RF called off the CF who pulled up then the RF turned his body slightly and reached up to catch it and some how missed it. Do not think he ever touched. The CF picked it up and fired back to the infield but with 2 outs when it was it both runners (3b and 2b) had crossed easily.
Awesome
So if the Reds go 85-77:
Cubs have to go 4-1 to pass us
Miami 4-2 (5 days) to pass us
Arizona 3-2 to pass us. They play Houston this weekend
84-78 we might have a shot? Maybe? Still can’t believe we blew 9-1 after 5
Doesn’t look like the Braves are mailing it in, coming back from 6-0 to win. Let’s see what tomorrow brings.
We just have to win. Cubs play the Brewers after the Braves.
In Milwaukee.
I live in CA and find this site helpful to get a local perspective. Can someone help explain the stadium only being filled at 70% capacity for the final home stand.
1. Final chance to show support to a team that has played way above expectations, especially the young kids that have never played so many games.
2. How about supporting a Hall of Fame player that has played his entire career in a Reds uniform. Joey Votto deserved a sold out crowd in what could have been his final home game ever. I despise the Cardinals, but why do I have a feeling more fans will show up to the final home stand of the last place Cardinals than how many showed up for the Reds games this past weekend.
I know it has been a lot of misery for us as fans, but trust me when I say you would miss it if you had to always watch on TV and only go to see the Reds play the dodgers and Angels.
I don’t blame people for not wanting to support the ownership, front office, or manager……but this team should have had a sold out final home stand.
We Reds fans sometimes get frustrated with Bell’s managing and some of the recent losses vs. Pittsburgh and Minnesota, but I imagine Cubs fans have to be pretty frustrated too at times, I’m sure they are saying the same things about Manager Ross, and they really haven’t played too well in September overall. Even the Astros I believe swept by the Royals recently. Mariners kind of falling apart. It’s kind of been a crazy year in MLB the ups and downs of so many teams seems unusual. The Reds down to their last couple games continue to show how streaky they are, really they’ve been this way for awhile. Win 3 in a row, lose 4 in a row, win 4 in a row, etc.
Hopefully next year they’ll be so good they just win consistently a lot! So they can be more like the Orioles/Rays and coast into the postseason.
Beiber has been bad and just came back. He’s given up 4+ runs in 5 of his last 6 starts. They just have to pull Abbott quick and get after them. You never know
In 1964, at the start of action on Sept 16, the Reds were in 3rd place -8.5 games to the lead. They then won 12 of their next 13 (including 9 in a row) to be in 1st by 1 game at the start of action on Sept 30. However, they lost 4 of their final 5 and finished in 2nd 1 game back.
There has been so much streakiness among these 4 teams playing musical chairs for 2 WC spots that anything could still happen if the Reds win out and somebody else crashes. And don’t forget the Reds win on tiebreakers both 4 or 3 team ties for 2 spots and a 2 way tie for one spot with either the Cubs or DBacks.
John Tsitouris.
#Dayton… packed and ready to be southbound and down
His SO9 are also WAY down from his peak. Was like 14+ at his best and now down to a below league average 7+. Course that means he goes 8 shutout innings tonight….my bad
I didn’t even know Texas was 2.5 games up on Houston. Texas had been playing horrible for awhile recently, it’s just been a really odd year in baseball with the streakiness of teams. I wonder what that’s all about, maybe just an anomaly this year. DBacks were kind of dead in the water. They deserve a lot of credit for how they’ve come back. I think that will sting (no pun intended) a bit if the Dbacks beat out the Reds by a few games as the Reds just whooped them at home and looked clearly like the better team at that time a few months back. Dbacks lineup is a little better than I thought after further glance with Walker, Gurriel Jr., etc. But again just an interesting unpredictable year overall.
Their pitching is pretty shaky too. They’ve done a great job rebounding.
The Reds really can’t afford another loss. Getting stomped by the Pirates is looming large now. And I never expect the Reds to perform particularly well in StL.
I saw on the game thread that Brooks Robinson had passed. We had TVs setup all over the high school for the 1970 World Series. That was one of the most memorable defensive performances in baseball history.
Our high school in E. KY. had those tv’s on in a couple of classrooms and the library. I skipped one class to watch abit more of the game. Brooks killed us.
I hate that about his passing. I saw my 1st live MLB game in Baltimore vs Detroit as a young pre-teen, Denny McClain vs Mike Cuellar. Game went to extra innings and the city had a 12 a.m. curfew that led to a suspended game. I caught food poisoning and missed the games the next day. I missed Lolich vs McNally. I had a Brooks Robinson glove that my sisters shady step-sons lifted some way. It was a very short glove made of excellent leather, and broke in in a unique way.
My first Reds game was in 1970 3rd level leftfield side. Hank Aaron didn’t play. They had those weird uniforms. Ralph Garr, I think Dusty was there then, and a young catcher/outfielder last name of Williams.
This is a big day for the Reds, we should know by the end of this day if there is still any chance at all, slim as it may be.
Every day is big till they are officially in or out.
It looks like I missed a fun game. The good news is the Reds kept coming back, they’ll need that grit to make the playoffs. 4 more games to take care of business, lets go!
I saw an article positing candidates to replace Francona and Bell wasn’t on the list. Don’t they know he’s the greatest manager in baseball history?
They obviously don’t know what they’re missing. 😉
Missing out on the #100 of 30 current Field Managers.
😀
The baseball gods had to be playing with us when McClain couldn’t go and Elly was thrown out there again with a .159 batting average over the last 28 games. Perhaps McClain would have hit two dingers but somehow I doubt it!
Ella needs to start running and stop looking at the home run
What in the world goes on with Greene?
He is so up and down.Not the shut down starter you need but he is still young.
Good question.
I have thoughts! lol 3 times with 2 strikes left handed Guardians hitters PULLED outside sliders, two of which went for home runs. It’s practically impossible to do that unless you’re guessing right or know what is coming, which sometimes are one in the same. Dumbing down his repertoire to just fastball/slider is doing him no favors, especially since his command of those pitches varies greatly between outings. I’ve been banging this drum all year and wasn’t convinced after his last start that Hunter somehow ‘turned a corner’. Greene threw 2 changeups, one for a strike in the 1st and another for a one pitch 3rd out in the 3rd inning. At this point I don’t know what else has to happen for the brain trust to try something different.
Greene’s fastball is a -16 runs above average, the slider +8. What that tells me is that the opposition knows the slider is his out pitch and are sitting on it.
At some point you have to give hitters something else to think about, especially lefties. He’s too talented to be reduced to 2 pitches where the hitter can simply guess and be right half the time. Certainly not a recipe for growth.
My take on the pulled sliders is that they actually were looking for heat and connected on a hung slider with a fastball swing. Those pitches were still nominally ±90MPH. I don’t think they could have been so totally jerked to the pull side with a slider swing.
Aside from this, we agree on the underlying point that Greene can’t succeed throwing hung sliders to LH hitters in that locale.
No TySteve tonight. Hope there’s nothing major going on with him. Joey getting the night off as well.
Ah, but the Cubbicles have dropped to 4th (and thus outside looking in) on the Fangraphs NL WC projections. 😉 😉
Votto or Fraley is a wash right now. Looks like no help from the White Sox, down 3-0 already.
I really think the Cubs will drop to 85 wins at best. I believe the questions are can the Reds get to 85 (or 84 if the Cubs go that low) and will the Marlins be a game worse?
Not a bad lineup tonight. Jake needs to produce behind CES for protection, or to pick him up.
Since JV’s career is highly likely winding down I’d prefer him over the bad toe(s) of Jake. Shoulder barking louder for Joey??
Two in a row without Stephenson? Tomorrow an off day. Curious.
Remembering a few games back he took hit to what looked like his groin area. That may be nothing related at all.
Believe TS also took a foul straight back flush into the mask grill of his catcher’s helmet 10-14 Days ago. That’s about the same time his hitting started going south again.
In the last 7 days TS has an OPS of .967.
You’re right Jim. Seems like the day after the opposing team’s catcher got nutter buttered, or even the same day.
Maile has caught nearly all of Abbott’s starts.
Mets up 2-0 in bottom of 1st on a Alonzo 2 run home run.
Fun fact: Sam Moll’s ERA+ with the Reds is 614 across his 23.2 innings. The Reds retain his rights for another four seasons, as well.
I like Moll a lot. He’s a competitor. Id like to see the Reds pair him next year with a dominant velocity guy from the left side that throws 98+ with a wipeout slider and use payroll or prospect capital to do it. Moll + a filthy lefty flamethrower would give the bullpen the 2 headed lefty combo they havent had the last few years.
@old school, I want another lefty as well
The obvious choice would be Chapman who says he wants to retire a Red. I just haven’t followed him enough to know how much he has left. Id rather get a younger flamethrower on the way up and pay for it.
Mets up 4-0. Linder 2 run homer.
I like the fact that the reds start at 6:10 and the Cubs start a hour later. If we win it could apply some pressure.
Marlins go to Pittsburgh over the weekend and they’re motoring along. Reds might even get in 3-1 (84-78), but they have a very solid shot with 85 wins. Could win 4 more or lose 3-4. Neither should surprise anyone.
Was it just me or did anyone else notice that Hunter Greene’s velocity was down a bit last night?
Pretty sure I saw 97 and maybe 98. He seems to rarely throw 100 or above,anymore and I wonder if that’s by design.
Thanks Greenmtred! I thought I saw a bunch of 96.
I saw a lot of 96, too, Jim T. I agree with VaRedsFan that this has been true for awhile. He does reach back for more velocity from time to time.
It’s been that way for awhile.
It’s my belief that he is sacrificing some velo for a bit more control. It was going well for 4 starts previous to this one.
I’m wondering who was calling for those sliders when they weren’t touching his fastball last night. (Either DJ, Maile, or Bell)
Hunter Greene is on Intentional Talk at 5:30
Thanks for the info.