By HAL McCOY
If the New York Yankees were sleepwalking Monday night in Great American Ball Park, they were sleepwalking with a purpose.
After playing an 18-inning game in Chicago Sunday night that lasted more than six hours, the Yankees arrived in Cincinnati Monday morning as the sun was rising.
Then they put the Cincinnati Reds to sleep Monday night, 10-4, snapping the Reds five-game winning streak and extending their own winning streak to six.
It was difficult to discern which team was up all night.
THE REDS STARTED ROOKIE Davis, a pitcher they acquired from the Yankees in the Aroldis Chapman trade. As it has been for most of Davis’ professional career, he had command and control problems.
It took him 91 pitches to travel 4 1/3 innings and he gave up five runs (four earned), seven hits, walked three and struck out four. And he went to five 3-and-2 counts on the patient Yankees.
And the Reds were left dozing on the basepaths early in the game when they had chances to score.
THE GAME STARTED OMINOUSLY for the Reds when leadoff hitter Brett Gardner grounded toward first. First baseman Joey Votto fielded it and flipped to Davis, covering first. But he didn’t cover the first base bag. He missed it and Gardner was safe.
After a walk, Gary Sanchez singled for two runs and former Reds shortstop Didi Gregorius singled for another run.
So the Reds were down 3-0 before they came to bat.
Then came the frustration. The first three Reds all singled — Billy Hamilton, Zack Cozart and Joey Votto — for a run. But Adam Duvall popped up and Eugenio Suarez grounded into a double play.
IT WAS WORSE IN THE third when the Reds filled the bases with no outs — and didn’t score. Jose Peraza popped up and Tucker Barnhart grounded into a double play.
Then things turned bizarre.
The Reds trailed by only 5-2 when Drew Storen took the mound in the seventh.
Storen became visibly upset with umpire Angel Hernandez’s strike zone and lost his composure.
He hit three batters. And he walked one. When he hit Chase Headley, the third batter he hit in the inning, the bases were loaded and it forced in a run. Then he game up a run-scoring single to former Reds farmhand Ronald Torreyes to make it 7-2.
Storen is the first Reds pitcher to hit three batters in one inning since Raul Sanchez hit three Philadelphia Phillies on May 15, 1960.
Over and out?
NOT YET. WITH starter Masahiro Tanaka still in the game, Zack Cozart drew a two-out walk and Joey Votto crushed his 10th home run, cutting the Yankee advantage to 7-4.
Then in the eighth, with Barrett Astin pitching, it was Bombers Away. Pinch-hitter Starlin Castro led with a single and Brett Gardner homered. One out later, Matt Holliday, who killed the Reds when he played with the Cardinals, hit a home run, his 20th career home run against the Reds. And now it was over — 10-4.
Tanaka staggered most of the game, but survived and lifted his record to 5-and-1. He pitched seven innings and gave up four runs (three earned), 10 hits, walked only one and struck out six.
When it finally ended, Reds pitchers had walked seven and hit three while giving up 10 runs and 13 hits. Mix in an error and the Yankees had 24 baserunners.
It was apparent that despite getting to Cincinnati at 6 a.m. Monday, they were wide awake at game time.