The Cincinnati Reds had to come from behind twice, but they held a lead heading into the 8th inning. Then the bullpen fell apart as they allowed five runs over the final two innings as the Miami Marlins earned a win to even up the series.
| Final | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miami Marlins (63-61) | 8 | 14 | 1 |
| Cincinnati Reds (59-63) | 4 | 8 | 1 |
| W: Zuber (2-1) L: Antone (2-1) | |||
| Statcast | Box Score | Game Thread | |||
Miami was threatening in the top of the 1st inning after getting a single to begin the game and then a 1-out walk. A fly out would move the lead runner up to third base, but Brady Singer snagged a soft liner back at him to end the threat. Neither team did much again until the top of the 3rd. That’s when Jakob Marsee hit a ball three rows deep into the seats in right-center to make it a 1-0 game.
In the bottom of that inning the Reds got some help from the Marlins defense when Ke’Bryan Hayes reached when right fielder Esteury Ruiz dropped a fly ball. Matt McLain then followed up with a double lined down the left field line to put two men in scoring position with one out. Elly De La Cruz struck out, leaving things up to Sal Stewart. And as he’s seemingly done all year, Stewart came through with a 2-run single to give his team a 2-1 lead. That lead didn’t last long, though. Joe Mack would hit a solo home run to tie things up about six minutes later.
Miami would take the lead in the top of the 5th inning. Jakob Marsee lined a single into right and Noelvi Marte didn’t come up with it cleanly and Marsee took second base on the error. He was then bunted over to third base before coming around to score on a line drive into left field. Cincinnati tied the game up in the bottom of the 5th when Ke’Bryan Hayes led off the inning with a home run and then they took the lead with Matt McLain followed up with a home run of his own.
After six innings from Brady Singer the Reds turned the game over to Luis Mey and the bullpen. He allowed a leadoff single on a grounder just past a diving Matt McLain. Another single followed on a chopper just off of the tip of the glove of Sal Stewart. Mey would bounce back with back-to-back strikeouts, but a wild pitch to Otto Lopez moved both runners up and put two men into scoring position. A few pitches later he would get Lopez to ground out to third base to strand both runners and hold onto a 1-run lead.
Tejay Antone took over for Mey to start the top of the 8th inning and things just didn’t go his way. He hit the first batter he saw before giving up a single to put runners on the corners. A sacrifice fly would follow and tie the game up. The next pitch from Antone then hit Esteury Ruiz and that brought manager Terry Francona to the mound to make a pitching change and bring in Sam Moll.
The Marlins countered by pulling Jakob Marsee, who was 4-4 on the night, and sent out Agustin Ramirez to pinch hit to get a right-handed batter in there against the lefty. The move worked for Miami as Ramirez walked to load the bases. A chopper to a leaping Elly De La Cruz turned into a forceout at the plate, but Heriberto Hernandez and Griffin Conine then came through with back-to-back RBI singles for the Marlins to push three more runs across the plate as the Marlins took the lead and made it 7-4. They would add another run in the 9th to make it 8-4.
Pete Fairbanks came out of Miami’s bullpen for the bottom of the 9th. Cincinnati began the inning by pinch hitting Hector Rodriguez for Noelvi Marte. Rodriguez would strike out. Michael Toglia then came off of the bench to pinch hit for Ke’Bryan Hayes. Toglia also struck out. Fairbanks then completed the trifecta by striking out Matt McLain to end the game as the Marlins evened the series up.
Key Moment of the Game
The top of the 8th inning for Miami that saw them score four runs to turn a 4-3 deficit into a 7-4 lead.
Notes Worth Noting
Matt McLain had three hits on the day, including a double and a home run. That was just his 2nd multi-hit game since June 9th. He had played in 35 games during that time, going 14-99 (.141). It was his 1st 3-hit game since March 28th.
Brady singer turned in a quality start as he allowed three runs in 6.0 innings. It was his 6th quality start in his last seven starts.
Cincinnati’s hitters drew zero walks and they struck out 13 times.
The Marlins went 4-18 with runners in scoring position. The Reds went 2-6.
Up Next for the Cincinnati Reds
Miami Marlins vs Cincinnati Reds
Sunday August 15th, 1:40pm ET
Eury Perez (6-9, 3.39 ERA) vs Nick Lodolo (3-2, 4.86 ERA)
Winnable game that was lost. The Reds cannot afford many of those games.
Clipped from SI article on the game:
… That’s when Francona turned to lefty Sam Moll. Moll has a 7.59 ERA over his last 15 games with eight walks and a 2.34 WHIP. Francona played the lefty matchup, and it bit him. The Marlins turned to a pinch hitter to bring in a right-handed batter. Moll walked Agustín Ramírez to load the bases. He did force a ground out, where Elly De La Cruz made a great play to get the lead runner at the plate on a force play. The next batter singled to bring in two runs to give Miami a 6-4 lead. He allowed another RBI single to the next batter before he was pulled for Pierce Johnson. Moll allowed two hits in 1/3 of an inning with a walk. This is a questionable move to bring in Moll in this spot. Moll came in with the bases loaded in the Nationals series last week and promptly unloaded the bases. Francona’s move to Moll was just a bad move. Brock Burke and Julian Garcia pitched on consecutive days, so the bullpen is a little thin, but Johnson is making a lot of money not to be trusted in that spot …
Yeah I thought so at the time.Tito had to know they may pinch hit and they did and the next two after hit right handed.Just a bad match up for Moll.Johnson last pitched on Thursday for 1/3 on an inning.So if he was available after Antone.
https://www.si.com/mlb/reds/onsi/terry-francona-s-questionable-late-decision-looms-large-in-reds-8-4-loss-01m043jw4853 the link to the whole article.
I wasn’t following this one too closely so but saw it was 4-3 only to be disappointed to check back and see and 8-4 loss!
Man, I’d be a little concerned about Antone’s arm. Perhaps this was just a bad outing for him. He’s been so good. But him hitting 2 guys on offsides pitches if I saw correctly seems unusual for him. I hope it’s nothing arm related, but with his history you worry of course.
McLain great game, Singer solid. De La Cruz in a hitting slump I think needs a day off. Makes the great defensive play but feels like he gets tired at times.
Bleday rarely gets a big hit it feels like. I think it’s ok they’re playing him to see how he fares overall, but definitely not a top of lineup hitter right now in my opinion.
Moll continuing to come in tight gamed makes little sense.
Has anyone asked the front office what their opinion is on why so many of their hitters have struggled this year? I’m curious what their actual thoughts are.
Well onto the rubber match and maybe a series win. A lot of mediocrity around the league, Reds, Marlins, Pirates, Cards, Tigers, Nats, etc.
I said it was game/set/match when we lost Ashcraft….and that was when we thought HG & Lodolo could back in there and contribute. The roster just lacks depth in arms and bats. Krall gotta go….new eyes & ears needed
hector on the bench. if you don’t play him bring up Benson as a hitter off the bench. he probably handles the part time duties better than a youngster and gives you some pop off the bench.
Benson is hitting .208 in AAA. He’s not the answer either.
If all you need is a guy to fill out the roster, who cares what his Triple-A batting average is?
93 pitches for our starter. Then the less-talented bullpen blows it. Rinse. Repeat. It’s the analytics people that are doing this to the game.
When you throw 5 relievers in a game, at least one of them is going to have a bad night and that typically results in an L.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/gl.fcgi?id=gulledo01&t=p&year=1971
This guy is comparable to today’s pitchers. When healthy, he dealt and he STAYED IN THE GAME. He helped us with the 1972 pennant, the 1973 pennant, the 1975 championship, and the 1976 championship.
This the worst case scenario type of star pitcher I could think of for Cinci and he still pitched well beyond 93 pitches a game.
The Reds have no pitcher comparable to Don Gullett today. Chase Burns obviously but no one else. Burns 2026 is similar to Gullett 1971.
Gullett’s career was shortened by injury: he was unable to resume pitching after TJ surgery. Koufax, another great hard thrower with dominating breaking stuff had a shortened career.
Frank Tanana threw 14 consecutive complete games in 1977. He dominated the league for several years 21 years, averaging 199.1 IP per year for his career. Let our guys pitch like Frank did!
That will work if we can also instruct all of the hitters to try and hit like hitters in 1977 did. And to tell defenses that they have to play in traditional spots and they don’t get to use hit-tracking data to get spots to stand on the field on little cards in their pockets for every hitter. And we expand the foul territory in parks that led to far more foul ball outs. But I don’t think the toothpaste is going back into any of those tubes.
Nolan Ryan would have been a better example for you to use, Michael, since he was a hard thrower even by today’s standards. But he was an extreme outlier, whether due to some unusual quirk in his physical make-up or mechanics, or both, or something else entirely. Pitchers in his own time didn’t throw as hard as he did and few lasted as long in MLB as he did. Outliers are interesting, but rarely instructive. More instructive is the epidemic proportions of pitcher injuries league-wide. By digging into the past, you are–as Doug points out–comparing apples to oranges.
Barry Larkin took the time to tell me a story at Spring Training a few years back. I’ve also heard him tell the story on tv before too. Tony Gwynn and Lark had a game-within-the-game for years if not decades. Gwynn could place the ball anywhere he wanted. He loved the 5.5 hole. If Larkin moved over 2-3 steps to his right, Gwynn would hit it more up the middle. If Larkin shifted to up the middle, Gwynn would hit it more toward the 5.5 hole. Larkin would break late and Gwynn could still react.
Baseball is a game. I’m not about to discount Frank Tanana’s dominance because of some cards in people’s pocket. There are a ton of stars and hall-of-famers in times past and they would still be great today. Greatness is not defined by an era, analytics, load management, exit velo, launch angle, positioning, spin rate, or velo. It’s what’s in a person as a competitor. The sport brings out greatness, not a pitcher’s probability of throwing a certain pitch in a 1-1 count to get off your “A” swing.
There are so many examples of great pitchers – and almost none of them involve analytics. When baseball is again based on common sense and not analytics and not the other way around, we will see legendary pitching performances again. Analytics should be a helpful outlier not the driver.
Until then, we will wonder if a talent like Paul Skenes’ best season was 10-10 in 187.2 IP.
I am sick and tired of Francona use Moll for a L in L match up.
Anyway, some other observations. I am sick and tired of seeing Bleday hit lazy fly outs
Look like Elli is in a little bit of a slump. The game would have been very different had Elli got a hit or 2.
Sal is a rbi machine.
Marte is just flat out not contributing anything on offense.
It sounds like you are sick and tired. Try Geritol.
Ibuprofen works best for me
Changes are needed in the Reds front office which of course depends on what managing ownership wants. But now it’s a waiting game to see the results of negotiations in 2027 before meaningful Red’s changes are made.
If 2027 and no baseball was at the forefront of the trade deadline decisions, wouldn’t it have been an opportune time to add 2-3 rentals to beef up the 2026 drive to the playoffs? Standing pat and gettting zero returns on your expiring contracts does you absolutely nothing toward your 2027 needs. The only credible message it sends is that you think your 2026 team is strong enough to make a run for the playoffs without adds, even 2 month rentals. That was the same approach we had in Feb-Mar of 2026. And many of us challenged then, there wasn’t enough offense. We have had a modest year of key offensive injuries missing only a month each from Geno, Elly, and Spencer. Our biggest offensive failure was the personnel Krall counted on and the lack of depth behind those failures. The continued lack of adds has placed a rather dim light on 2027 without major wintertime offensive adds. Stephenson and Lowe are already key subtractions.
Good summary. Stevenson isn’t gone yet and, though we don’t know that he will be signed by the Reds, it’s plausible that they’ll try. They need more, of course. They need more of everything. Last night’s loss, like a number of others, was a failure of run prevention as well as run scoring. I have come to accept that ownership is simply unwilling to spend what it would take to right the ship. I know: there are a few teams that are successful despite spending as little as the Reds, but do any of us really believe that the Reds can be fixed in a reasonable time frame absent significantly increased spending?
The team really misses Steer in the lineup, but in the meantime, they need to maximize the effectiveness of the roster they have. Stephenson needs to play 1B during his “off days”. Without Lowe and Steer, Toglia needs to play 1B the other days. Sal needs to be at 3B every day. It hurts to watch Marte right now and I’m disappointed in the productivity of Hector but his at bats are miles better than Marte’s, so play him.
I’ve been impressed with Lebron’s start at Dayton, if he puts together another similar week it may be time to bump him to Chattanooga. Some say that he is even better defensively at the SS position. Maybe last year’s evaluation of him as overall #1 is more correct. Hypothetical scenario, if Lebron winds up with a solid month at AA this year, a great April/May at AA next year, a great June/July at AAA next year, does he get the call up on August 15 next year? Would that move EDLC to CF or 3B to make way at SS?
Won’t happen Eli is SS as long as he is here and healthy.
Catcher is a very tough position to play, particularly for someone as tall as TS. Are you certain that he doesn’t need the days off that he gets?
Fastest SS to MLB for Reds that I remember was Barry Larkin. Drafted 1985 as junior eligible from Michigan. Played the 1985 summer in AA then excelled in AAA at Denver in 1986 and was brought up to the Reds.
I don’t whether Lebron can be another Larkin, but he is off to a good start in A ball.
Elly 2-27 slump. Is he making a mistake not taking a deal right now? Is he going to be a $40-50m per yr. player? I love the guy but have my doubts.
All superstar caliber players go through slumps. Recently Sal Stewart went through a slump,however not much was said.
Elly will indeed make a big payday and will be worth every dime. He is the best player on the Reds
I as well have my doubts. To me his biggest issue has been that he simply does not hit in the clutch and very seldom has. I think he may blossom into a top 10 type player but he must become clutch before he is. Top 25 yes, top 10 not yet.
That narrative–Elly doesn’t hit in the clutch–is put forward from time to time. Out of curiosity, do you have supporting stats? I’m well aware of my own tendency to remember things selectively.
I think he is in a slump and will snap out of it very shortly. Good question though.
I am not sure how much money he is risking not signing. PCA, who some consider a comp, just signed for $115M for 6 years with some escalators. PCA’s WAR is 7 and Elly’s is 4. PCA is in the MVP conversation. Elly is not. Seems to me that if Elly is being offered $250M for 8-10 years, then he ought to think real hard about taking it. Is he a potential 9 WAR, MVP type player in the next couple of years to translate to more than $250M? Don’t know the answer to that other than that is high cotton, top 5 player in the game territory. To date, he is probably top 10-15 imo. $25-30M annually seems in the ballpark to me. Now if he wants to play for a championship contender in 2028-2029, that is whole another question. Maybe $25M per annum from the Dodgers or Cubs is where he wants to be? A win-win in his eyes. The Reds committed to building around him and that hasn’t happened. Still a bit of a gamble on his part.
Ask any GM or just the general public what Reds player they would like from the Cincinnati Reds roster and 99% would say Elly.
If Elly was a free agent right now he might not get the money/interest that Othani or Soto received, but he would be in the next tier and a 2-27 slump is not gonna change that.
When Steer returns time to DFA Friedl. Wish there were alternatives in the minors to replace Marte and HROD but sadly there are not. The long term outlook for the Reds seems bleak. We have eight of our 13 hitters who are around .200 mark or worse. I wonder if that might be some sort of record? Reminds one of T-Ball where the first four batters were solid but the others could never be expected to hit the ball.
Right now right field is a black hole, neither HRod or Marte are giving anything and Bleday isn’t doing much either = not a playoff caliber team. With the schedule 85 to 90 losses still possible. Hope I am wrong.
Back to the OF lineup same questions from the past several seasons. As things stand now, none of Bleday, Marte, Myers, H-Rod, Benson or Friedl is the answer for next season, with Dunn being the only potential regular.
If the Reds improvement plan has Dunn as part of it, we are in bad shape. Dunn at best is an average ball player. His career OPS is 660 (below average). In 2026, it was 725 (average). He is a plus defender but offensively we need a heck of a lot more than average to below average OFs to compete with the Brewers and Cubs. That should be obvious. How is that going to happen? Not without a lot more spending and the trading of a lot of these “hot” prospects that we have. 2027s OD starting lineup can not again have the same old, same old bunch of 190 hitters that we rolled with this year. They need significantly upgraded at multiple positions particularly including OFs.
Sorry. The front office created this situation and needs to uncreat it for us to be competitive with the Cubs and Brewers.
Looks like Luis Mey has turned a corner to become a useable member of the bullpen. Was interesting to hear on the broadcast the innovative ways used to solve many of his control issues. I find it interesting that these ways were instituted while the organizations Pitching Coordinator was on a leave. of absence. Part of what I took from it was throwing strikes took equal status to maximum velocity and spin. Hope this philosophical change works its way through the system.
I think you are reading into what you want of the situation that is based around the story they want to sell.
Luis Mey didn’t make these adjustments until August. He’s pitched in a handful of games – and he’s looked real good in them. But he’s had good stretches in the past where he didn’t walk guys and got a ton of outs. But as we saw last night, he’s still plenty capable of throwing a pitch with absolutely no idea where it’s going.
As for the “adjustment” it was very convenient that they didn’t note that this adjustment is only happening when the bases are empty. Luis Mey’s “low leg lift” is just how he’s always pitched when runners are on base. It’s not new. It’s not really a “change” to anything he’s done mechanically. They just said “pitch like you do when runners are on” at all times instead of just when the runners are on.
The guys on the radio said recently when Mey went back down the last time. They told him to throw nothing but fastballa and learn to command the fastball. That seems to have worked. I too have noticed since Johnson had been on leave the pitching has seemed to have changed somewhat. Maybe his philosophy is the issue. That being Johnson
Luis Mey’s Fastball rate, including Triple-A:
Before Johnson left the team: 62%
After Johnson left the team: 67%
Given that he’s a reliever who throws about 25 pitches per game, this is one more fastball thrown per outing. It’s not noticeable. And he’s always been a guy who throws a lot of fastballs.
Again, I just think this is someone trying to sell a story.
Sam Moll hasn’t been effective for quite some time. Maddening that Tito keeps running him out there, expecting a different result.
Tito channeling David Bell on this one….bizarre
No doubt. Doesn’t the continued reliance on Sam indicate our bullpen injury status (Ashcraft and Tony), and the absence of any help from Louisville. The Louisville situation being so bad, we had to pick up a 5 ERA waiver wire guy from Pirates in the last week or so. Moll isn’t deserving of a roster spot at this point but the alternatives are probably worse. But we felt comfortable enough to send our other LH reliever (Ferguson) to the Cardinals. Make sense of that.
My guess is that Santillan and Williamson will take RH and LH spots in bullpen when they are healthy.
I not so sure Tito is managing this pitching staff as well as I thought, Starters and relievers both. I know he has limited resources but when u have less u stay with what works
comments turned off for Sundays game? i got home late from work and missed the game it sounded like a rough one. double header with Cardinals monday night?
Day/Night doubleheader.
thank you. i’ll be able to catch the later game.