By Hal McCoy
Eddie Cochran recorded a classic song in 1958 called “Summertime Blues.”
It should be the theme song this season for the Cincinnati Reds bullpen as it blows game after game after game.
They permitted another one to slip through their wide-spread fingers Saturday afternoon in Busch Stadium, 6-5 to the St. Louis Cardinals.
This time it was left-hander Sam Moll (1-4), trying to protect a 5-4 lead in the bottom of the eighth.
He gave up a two-run home run to Lars Nootbaar, playing only his second game of the season after undergoing surgery on both heels during the off-season.
And he didn’t start the game. He was a pinch-hitter in the sixth inning, then stayed in the game.
Moll slipped two quick strikes past him, then on 2-and-2, he hung an 83 miles an hour sweeper and Nootbaar nearly knocked down the Gateway Arch with a 433-foot blast that crushed the Reds.
They’ve now lost seven of their last nine games and plunged a game under .500 (31-32), the first National League Central team to fall under .500 since early April.
And there was drama in the top of the ninth, a soap opera witrh a sad ending for the Reds.
With two outs and nobody on against Cardinals closer Riley O’Brien, pinch-hitter Will Benson singled, JJ Bleday singled and Spencer Steer walked to load the bases.
O’Brien was all over the place with his pitches and fell behind Sal Stewart 3-and-1.
His next pitch, a high-and-tight 99 miles an hour fastball, was called ball four by umpire Ben May — a bases-loaded walk to force in the tying run and make it 6-6.
Or so the Reds thought.
Stewart was stripping off his protective gear to head to first base when the Cardinals challenged. It was a strike by the seams of the basesball. Strike two.
On the next pitch, Stewart grounded out to second base and another ‘L’ was placed next to the Reds, their third straight and the loss of the series to the Cardinals after St. Louis won the opener, 10-3.
“We’re still getting used to that part of it,” said Reds manager Tito Francona, referring to the ABS challenge system. “Your game is literally hanging on an eighth of an inch.
“I’m sure the fans love it, but it’s not so great for my stomach,” he added.
Amazingly, the Cardinals led five of the first seven innings with singles, but only scored in one of those innngs, a three-run second that gave them a 3-0 lead.
But the Reds dared them to do it again in the eighth and Jose Fermin did it. a leadoff single. Brayan Torres bunted him to second, but it wasn’t needed.
Nootbaar homered.
St. Louis starter Matthew Libertore’s hero is former Dodgers pitcher Sandy Koufax, even though Koufax retired 33 years before Libertore was born.
He wears Koufax’s number 32, but he did something in the third inning that Koufax never did. With a 3-0 lead, he walked the first two batters.
They both scored on an error by first baseman Alec Burleson and another run scored on Spencer Steer’s sacrifice fly to tie it, 3-3.
The Reds took a 5-3 lead in the fourth when Matt McLain (3 for 34, 11 strikeouts) emerged from his cocoon to swat a two-run home run.
Jordan Walker cut the margin to 5-4 with a fifth-inning home run off Reds starter Nick Lodolo.
Lodolo started the sixth but gave up one of those leadoff singles, this one to Fermin, and Brayan Torres chopped one up on the third base line and reached on Eugenio Suarez’s throwing error.
That’s when Nootbaar pinch-hit and was intentionally walked, filling the bases with no outs.
TeJay Antone replaced Lodolo and enacted the best escape act of the season.
St. Louis manager Oliver Marmol sent up catcher Jimmy Crooks to bat for Victor Scott II, one of baseball’s fleetest runners.
As a catcher, Crooks run like an umpire and was an easy double play victim, first baseman Stewart to catcher P.J. Higgins and back to Stewart to complete the 3-2-3 double play.
Antone then struck out Masyn Winn to complete the miraculous escape and give the Reds the sense they might win this one.
That was until Nootbaar mugged Moll for the two-run game-winning home run.
“Belive me, we’ve had our share of hiccups,” Francona said, referring to the bullpen. It has been more like strangulation.
“Antone came in and wriggled out of a really tough one,” he added. “Sammy (Moll) was pretty good, but he just hung a breaking ball right in his (Nootbaar’s) swing path.”
Lodolo gave up four runs and nine hits over his five-plus innings and five of those hits came in the second when St. Louis scored three runs.
All five hits that inning were singles, a bunt and four opposite-field hits as the Cardinals kept reaching out for Lodolo’s outside pitches and poking them to right field.
“You know what? In second inning, he (Lodolo) gave up three and then he kinda settled down and he is getting more like Lodolo, which is great. He’ll be OK,” said Francona.
Spencer Steer stretched his on-base streak to 24 straight games with a pair of walks and Blake Dunn contributed three hits — two singles, a double and a stolen base.
Eugenio Suarez continues his helplessness at the plate, 0 for 4 with two strikeouts. He is 1 for 15 with five strikeouts. Stewart was 0 5 with two strikeouts.
The Reds, 2-12 against NL Central teams, collected nine hits, but 2 for 13 with runners in scoring position. They try to salvage one game out of the three-game set Sunday afternoon with Rhett Lowder coming off the injured list to make the start.
“Runs like an umpire” ….. now you’re getting personal, Hal. (LOL)
I worked the plate for both ends of a doubleheader on Saturday. In about the 7th inning of the second game I had to jog up to third base on a rotation. I definitely noticed that my back, hips, knees and ankles were tight. And this is on top of the fact that my Dad used to say that I ran 2nd to home like a wounded buffalo.
“Runs like an umpire” indeed.