By Hal McCoy
It was Elimination Night for the Cincinnati Reds Wednesday night in Great American Ball Park.
With their first loss of the season to the Atlanta Braves, 7-1, the Reds were officially denied a National League wild card spot in the playoffs.
The only goal left is a .500 season, but with a 74-79 record, the Reds must win seven of their final nine games to accomplish that meagre goal.
As so often has happened in the second half of this season, the Reds received fantastic work from the starting pitcher, only to have the bullpen implode.
Jakob Junis held the Braves to one run and two hits over six innings and turned a 1-1 tie over to the bullpen.
Junis has shown since coming out of the bullpen into the rotation that he can make a baseball sing, dance and almost talk.
With another no-decision, Junis remains 4-0. But in his last six starts he has received a no decision each time, despite giving up only five earned runs over 25 innings.
The Braves, who had lost three straight, scored six runs in the seventh, eighth and ninth against Tony Santillan, Justin Wilson and Casey Legumina.
Both Santillan and Wilson gave up home runs to the first batter they faced.
It began in the top of the seventh with Santillan facing Marcell Ozuna, who had not driven in a run in 19 games and hadn’t homered in 26 games.
Santillan fell behind 3-0 and Ozuna attacked the fourth pitch and ended those two bad streaks with one swing, a home run into the left field seats.
The Braves didn’t stop there. Matt Olson singled, Ramon Laureano doubled off the top of the left field wall and Gio Urshela singled home two more runs for a 4-1 Atlanta lead.
Wilson started the eighth and Michael Harris II greeted him with a long home run high and deep into the right field seat.
Once again the Braves didn’t stop there. Eli White singled and scored on Ozuna’s double to make it 6-1. Ozuna finished the night with three hits, three RBI and two runs scored with his homer and two doubles.
The Braves added a seventh run in the ninth on relief pitcher Legumina’s throwing error and a double by number nine hitter Gio Urshela. Urshela contributed two hits and drove in three.
The Reds were baffled by rookie Atlanta starter Spencer Schwellenbach — six innings, one run, five hits, two walks five strikeouts. It was his 10th straight game of giving up three or fewer earned runs.
Junis was even better. He retired the first 11 Braves and with two outs in the fourth he gave up his only two hits, a double by Ozuna and a run-scoring single by Matt Olson, who was 1 for 18 for his career against Junis.
The six innings were the most this season by Junis and he left after throwing 70 pitches, 50 for strikes.
The Reds tied the game, 1-1, in the sixth on a triple by Elly De La Cruz and a perfectly executed safety squeeze bunt by TJ Friedl.
But that was it.
The Atlanta bullpen did what the Reds’ bullpen couldn’t. Three Braves relief pitchers held the Reds to no runs and no hits over the last three innings. Only one Reds batter reached base in those three innngs, a two-out walk in the ninth to Santiago Espinal.
The Reds had beaten the Bravses four straight and were the only team Atlanta hadn’t beaten this season. But a five-hit night by the Reds ended that.
And before the game, the Reds announced the loss of another starting pitcher. Brandon Williamson tore the ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) in his elbow in the second innings Tuesday night.
He will undergo Tommy John surgery and joins starting pitchers Hunter Greene, Nick Lodolo, Andrew Abbott and Graham Ashcraft on the injured list.
The Reds finish the three-game Atlanta series Thursday afternoon at 1:10, then finish the home portion of the schedule over the weekend against the Pittsburgh Pirates, a battle for last place in the National League Central.
What’s the incentive? Avoiding last place.
They have to put on a uniform and they turn on a bunch of expensive bright lights, so why not play hard.