The Reds had this one in their hands, then watched it slip away fast.
Cincinnati carried a 5-2 lead into the bottom of the seventh in Toronto, but the bullpen couldn’t protect it. The Blue Jays pushed across four runs in the inning, grabbed the lead, and never gave it back in a 6-5 win at Rogers Centre to open the final series of the year.
The night started with Nick Lodolo taking a hard first punch. Toronto struck for three doubles in the bottom of the first and jumped ahead 2-0 before Cincinnati had a chance to settle in. The Reds answered in the top of the second when Eugenio Suarez launched a solo home run to get one run back.
Lodolo found himself in trouble again in the second after a hit batter and two one-out singles loaded the bases. He escaped by getting Alejandro Kirk to ground into a double play, and that stop mattered because Cincinnati turned around and put together its best swing of the game in the third.
Oswaldo Cabrera and Carlos Jorge opened the inning with singles. Elly De La Cruz then ripped a double into the left field corner, driving in both runners.
He kept moving, swiping third for his 30th steal of the season and becoming a member of the 30/30 club. Sal Stewart followed with an RBI single, and Suarez added another hit to put runners on the corners before Stewart came home on a groundout.
Just like that, the Reds had a 5-2 lead.
Lodolo nearly got burned again in the third. After retiring the first two batters, he worked around walks and a double to load the bases, but once more he got a grounder to shortstop to end the inning and strand everybody.
He then worked through the fourth and fifth without allowing a baserunner, before hitting the first batter of the sixth and leaving the game. Luis Mey took over and got through the inning with three straight outs.
Mey came back for the seventh, and that’s where it unraveled. He walked the first two hitters, then allowed an RBI single.
An error by Oswaldo Cabrera followed and loaded the bases, which ended Mey’s night. Pierce Johnson entered, and his first pitch turned into a two-run double off the wall in center to tie it.
Nathan Lukes then singled in the go-ahead run.
Cincinnati got a leadoff single from Hector Rodriguez in the eighth, but that was it. The Reds didn’t get another hit the rest of the night, and Toronto closed it out.
The turning point was obvious: the Blue Jays’ four-run rally against two Reds relievers in the seventh.
There were a few other numbers that stood out. De La Cruz joined Eric Davis (1987), Barry Larkin (1996), and Brandon Phillips (2007) as the only Reds in history with 30 home runs and 30 stolen bases in the same season. It was the 82nd time in MLB history a player has reached that mark.
Carlos Jorge, Eugenio Suarez, Hector Rodriguez, and Juan Brito each finished with two hits. And Cincinnati’s pitching staff handed out more free passes than strikeouts, with five walks and two hit batters against six strikeouts. The Reds offense, meanwhile, drew just one walk and struck out 11 times.
In Other News...
Reds Just Sent An Early Offseason Message Fans Wont Ignore
A day after making a brief return to the majors, Julian Aguiar was on the move again, this time leaving the Reds organization on waivers and landing with the Cubs. The former Cincinnati pitching prospect had spent most of 2026 at Triple-A while working back from Tommy John surgery in 2024, and his recall in September at least hinted that the Reds still saw a useful arm worth keeping close.
Instead, Chicago moved quickly to claim him, adding a fresh option to its pitching depth for the stretch run. Aguiar cannot appear on the Cubs postseason roster because he was added after Sept. 1, but he can still be used in late-season games, which gives the division rival an immediate chance to see whether Cincinnati may have let an arm get away too soon. [Read more 🡒]
Reds Could Finally Handle One Offseason Decision Very Differently
The Reds have spent years working with a front office structure where the baseball staff has not always had the final say on baseball moves, but that dynamic appears to be changing. Bob Castellini has confirmed that Nick Krall and Brad Meador will be back in 2027, and he also said the clubs baseball leaders will be the ones making baseball decisions, a notable shift for a team that has at times been tied to ownership approval on certain trades.
For Cincinnati, the real significance may show up this winter if the club is willing to operate more like a Brewers-style organization and move pieces before they become harder to manage. That opens the door to a different kind of offseason, with names such as Emilio Pagn, Dane Myers and Tejay Antone all fitting into the kind of trade discussion the Reds have not always embraced. The question now is whether the front office finally has the freedom to act on that approach. [Read more 🡒]
Reds Future Dugout Plan Just Got A Lot More Real
A familiar name in the Reds dugout took on a bigger role against the Blue Jays when Terry Francona handed Mike Napoli the game-management duties for a night, a move that said plenty about how the club is thinking beyond the immediate stretch run. Napoli, who was just promoted to bench coach, has a rsum that already includes time as a player and coach under Francona, and that background makes him a natural fit to keep moving up the ladder in Cincinnati.
Francona still has a club option for 2028, but the longer-term picture around his future remains unsettled enough that the Reds are clearly keeping an eye on what comes next. Giving Napoli a chance to steer things in a live game was more than a symbolic gesture, it was another sign that the organization may already be testing the contours of a possible succession plan. [Read more 🡒]