The Cincinnati Reds’ trip to Washington ended the hard way Sunday: with a sweep, a one-run night at the plate, and a Nationals offense that kept finding just enough room to pile on.
Cincinnati managed only four hits and one run in front of 21,375 fans as Washington rolled to its third straight win. The Reds actually opened the scoring first, but the cushion disappeared almost immediately.
After a quiet first inning, Cincinnati put together a small rally in the second. The first two batters reached, both moved up on a groundout, and Dane Myers brought home the game’s first run with a sacrifice fly.
Washington answered right back in the bottom half against Brady Sinder. The Nationals also got their first two hitters aboard, then Keibert Ruiz lined an RBI single with one out to tie it. Jacob Young followed with a sacrifice fly to put Washington ahead 2-1, and Abimelec Ortiz added to the damage in the third with an opposite-field solo homer to lead off the inning.
From there, the game settled into a stretch where the pitchers took control. Brady Singer worked through the Nationals lineup through the sixth, finishing his day after 103 pitches. On the other side, Washington’s bullpen kept Cincinnati in check, with Will Dion covering 3.0 innings before Trevor Williams recorded the final out of the top of the sixth.
The Reds handed the ball to Brock Burke in the seventh, and Washington immediately created more separation. CJ Abrams singled to start the inning, stole second, then moved to third when Burke’s pickoff throw got away into center. That mistake set up an easy run on a Daylen Lile single, pushing the Nationals’ lead to 4-1.
The next inning, Tejay Antone faced a Nationals lineup that refused to let up. An infield hit started things, followed by a steal and a bloop single into center that brought Myers charging in to third with a throw.
Cincinnati chose to intentionally walk Keibert Ruiz to load the bases, and a grounder brought in another run even as Elly De La Cruz got a force at third. Antone then struck out the next batter, but Andres Chaparro broke it open with a two-run double with two outs to make it 7-1.
Cincinnati went down in order in the ninth, closing out a 3-game sweep.
Notes worth noting: Brady Singer logged his fifth quality start in his last six outings. JJ Bleday had seven extra-base hits since June 21st, and all of them were home runs; his double in the bottom of the sixth ended a 41-game stretch without a double or triple.
The Reds finished the series 16-93, a .172 average. The Reds are back Tuesday, August 11th at 7:40 p.m.
ET.
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