Rain couldn’t wash away the Reds’ power Saturday night.
Elly De La Cruz, Tyler Stephenson and Matt McLain all went deep with solo homers, and Tony Santillan escaped a huge seventh-inning mess to help Cincinnati hold off the Brewers, 5-3, before 32,778 at Great American Ball Park. Emilio Pagán finished it off with a scoreless ninth for his 21st save in 24 chances.
The night started with Milwaukee striking first. William Contreras launched his 14th homer of the year off Reds lefty starter Andrew Abbott in the opening inning, but De La Cruz answered in style on his bobblehead night, crushing a Dustin May 0-2 fastball 438 feet to the center-field berm to even things up.
Cincinnati also got a flash of defense from Eugenio Suárez at third, where he made a backhanded stop on a Cooper Pratt grounder in the second inning.
The Brewers grabbed the lead back in the third in a sequence that ran through Sal Stewart. David Hamilton singled by beating Stewart’s throw to Abbott at first, and although Abbott had Hamilton picked off, Stewart’s throw to De La Cruz sailed into left field. That let Hamilton take third, and he scored on Luis Lara’s groundout to Stewart.
Then came the weather. With the Reds threatening in the bottom of the fourth after singles from JJ Bleday and Suárez put runners on the corners, two bursts of heavy rain rolled through GABP. Grounds crews worked on the field for 20 minutes, and the game wound up delayed 2 hours, 22 minutes overall.
When play finally picked back up at 10:03 p.m. ET, Jose Trevino delivered the tying run with a single that scored Bleday.
Stephenson then gave Cincinnati its first lead in the sixth, sending a towering shot to left off reliever DL Hall for his 15th homer. But the Brewers made the seventh inning sweat, loading the bases against Santillan with nobody out. Jackson Chourio’s sacrifice fly tied it again, only for McLain to answer immediately with a homer to right off Aaron Ashby (13-3), his 15th of the season, and a 4-3 Reds edge.
Santillan worked out of the jam with just one run crossing, and Pagán handled the ninth to seal it.
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Reds Face One Offseason Question After Another Fastball Warning
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As the offseason begins to take shape, the Reds are left weighing what has to change to close that gap. Coaching adjustments are part of the conversation, and so are roster moves, because this has been more than a short-term slump. The challenge now is finding hitters who can do more than survive those at-bats and building an approach that keeps the lineup from being rushed out of innings by the leagues hardest throwers. [Read more 🡒]