Rhett Lowder gave the Reds exactly the kind of closing statement they needed in his final outing of the season, and Cincinnati backed him with enough offense and clean enough relief work to knock off the Blue Jays 5-1 on Saturday afternoon.
The Reds opened the scoring in the second inning when JJ Bleday jumped on the second pitch of the frame and drove it four rows deep into right-center for a 1-0 lead. Cincinnati kept stacking runs from there, taking advantage of Toronto mistakes to widen the gap.
In the third, Matt McLain scored on a fielding error by shortstop Andres Gimenez, and Eugenio Suarez followed with a double that brought Carlos Jorge home from third. Two innings later, another Blue Jays miscue turned into more damage.
After Bleday walked, Tyler Stephenson rolled a weak grounder up the first base line, but Sean Keys couldn’t handle it cleanly, and Stephenson reached on the error. Hector Rodriguez then crushed a two-run triple off the wall in left field to make it 5-0.
That cushion was more than enough for Lowder, who looked in control after a shaky opening. He walked the first two batters he faced, then settled in and allowed only three hits over six shutout innings. Even with that efficiency, the Reds pulled him after 79 pitches and handed things to the bullpen in the seventh.
Connor Phillips had a rough start to his inning, walking the first hitter he saw on four pitches. Toronto finally got on the board when Josh Smith doubled with one out, moving Kazuma Okamoto to third, and Okamoto then scored on a groundout. That was the Blue Jays’ lone run of the day.
Graham Ashcraft handled the eighth, working around a leadoff single to keep Toronto down. After Cincinnati went down in order in the ninth, Tejay Antone came on and finished it off in 10 pitches, closing out the 5-1 win and helping the Reds even the series.
Hector Rodriguez was the only Reds player with more than one hit, and Carlos Jorge finished 1-for-3 with two walks, a stolen base, and a run scored. Sal Stewart was caught stealing in the fifth, marking his fourth straight unsuccessful steal attempt, all of them coming over the last two weeks.
Lowder’s line stood out for more than just the shutout innings. He had allowed 21 earned runs in 15.1 innings in September before this start, but Saturday was arguably his best outing of the season.
It was only his second appearance of the year of more than 3.0 innings in which he didn’t allow a run, the other coming on April 4 against Texas when he threw six scoreless innings. His ERA also dropped below six for the season.
The Reds also announced that Julian Aguiar, who had been designated for assignment earlier this week, was claimed by the Chicago Cubs.
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