By Hal McCoy
The snarky desciption for the home run friendly home playground for the Cincinnati Reds is Great American Smallpark.
Broadcaster and former Reds relief pitcher Sam LeCure came up with a new one during the pre-game show Tuesday: “Great American Airport.”
How apropos.
The Washington Nationals were cleared for takeoff six times Tuesday night, six home runs during a 10-4 blasting of the Reds.
Four different Reds pitchers were victimized — three by starter Brady Singer and one each by Sam Molll, Luis Mey and Tony Santillan.
Nine of Washington’s first 10 runs came via home runs, five shot into the easily reachable right field moon deck.
Two Nationals hit two. Luis Garcia Jr. came to town with one homer and hit two. Daylen Lile came to town with three and hit two.
And what is it with the Reds against the Nationals, a team that hasn’t had a winning record over the last six years?
They took four of six against the Reds last season and have beaten the Reds 12 times in the last 16 meetings.
They began Tuesday’s game below .500 (19-22) and led MLB in errors, wild pitches and passed balls.
They made two errors and Cincinnati’s TJ Friedl reached base on a strikeout/passed ball.
But when a team hits six home runs, all the defensive flubs it makes mean nothing.
On the opposite end, the Reds were up to old tricks. They put their leadoff hitter on base in five innings, but scored in only one of those innings.
Entering the ninth, they were 0 for 11 with runners in scoring position. They finished 1 for 12 because JJ Bleday produced a meaningless two-run single in the ninth.
The Reds stranded 11 while claiming sole position of last place in the National League Central.
They’ve lost nine of their last 11 and have given up double digit runs four times in their last 13 games.
Singer began the game by striking out James Wood and Garcia Jr. But in the second he took a hard line drive off his right foot.
Regrettably, he stayed in.
With one out in the third, the two men he struck out to start the game, Wood and Garcia Jr., hit back-to-back home runs.
He started the fourth and on an 0-2 pitch Lile homered. With two outs, manager Tito Francona removed him with the Reds down, 3-0.
“He’s real tender. He got X-rayed and that came out fine, which is good,” said Francona. “We’re going to have to keep an eye on him.”
Asked if taking a bullet train off the foot affected his pitching, Francona said, “Yeah, he was hurtin.’ He’ll never say a word, but I know he was feeling it.
“It was the (right) foot he drives off and you could see his velocity dip right after it happened,” he added. “He’s limping around pretty good.”
Singer, though, did have something to say.
“I obviously screwed up the bullpen by coming out,” he said. “I tried the best I could with what I had and the circumstances. I was thinking about it, too, trying to make pitches but thinking about that (getting hit).
“I stayed in to try to get some innings in and give the bullpen a break,” he added.
When the Reds were down only 3-0, they flubbed a massive opportunity in the fourth when they filled the bases with no outs and refilled the bases with one out, but scored only two runs.
The Nationals responded with four runs in the top of the fifth.
The bullpen? Disastrous.
After getting the last out of the fourth, Sam Moll gave up a first-pitch home run to Garcia Jr., his second of the game.
That was followed by a walk and a single and Luis Mey replaced Moll. The second batter he faced, Lile, picked on the first pitch and drove a 429-foot three-run homer to make it 7-2.
Tony Santillan was the next victim, a two-out, two-run rip by Brady House in the eighth.
Francona is not pleased with his bullpen’s complete collapse over the last two weeks.
“We sure did give up some home runs,” he said. “As a staff, we’re going to have to attack the strike zone better. It seems like we’re either in the middle of the plate or a ball. We’re going to have to do better.”
Even the fans lost this one. Entering the ninth, Reds pitchers had struck out 10. If the Reds strike out 11, ticket holders get free pizza from LaRosa’s.
Pierce Johnson was on the mound with the fans still remaining chanting, “We want pizza, we want pizza.”
He faced four hitters and got two strikes on each one but couldn’t record a strikeout. When Washington’s Keibert Ruiz flied to right to end the inning, the fans booed lustily,