By Hal McCoy
The Cincinnati Reds’ bungee jumping season continues — up, down, up, down, down, down.
For five innings Sunday afternoon in Chase Field, Reds starter Andrew Abbott had the Arizona Diamondbacks nibbling harmlessly out his his left hand — no runs, three hits.
The Diamondbacks, though, lead the pack for the final National League wild card spot and came alive late for a turnaround 5-3 victory.
The Reds led, 3-0, after scoring three runs in the third inning against Arizona rookie left-hander Mitch Bratt.
That was it for the offensively challenged Reds. Six Arizona relief pitchers held the Reds to no runs and three hits over the final six innings.
Arizona is tied with the Chicago Cubs for most comeback wins, 39, and owns the best record in MLB against left-handed starters, 22-11.
So it was inevitable they would solve Abbott with their league-best .279 average against southpaws.
The D-Backs scored a run off Abbott in the sixth then scored four in the seventh, knocking Abbott out of the game.
Arizona began its comeback in the sixth inning when Corbin Carroll tripled off the center field wall and scored on Gabriel Moreno’s sacrifice fly.
But the Reds still led, 3-1.
Then the first three D-Backs reached base to open the seventh as the deciding four-run inning unfolded. It led to the 28th time the Reds had blown leads and lost.
Tim Tawa ripped Abbott’s first pitch of the seventh into left field for a single and Jordan Lawlar followed with a single.
When Abbott walked back-up catcher James McCann on four pitches to fill the bases with no outs, Abbott was finished.
Luis Mey has been stone cold solid in recent outings since his recall from Triple-A Louisville, but hadn’t faced a high leverage situation.
This leverage was Mount Everest high — two-run lead, bases loaded, no outs.
Pinch-hitter Lars Nootbaar swung at Mey’s first pitch and grounded out to Mey as Tawa scored, cutting Cincinnati’s lead to 3-2.
And there were runneres on third and second.
Corbin Carroll then bashed one off the center field wall, scoring both runners for a 4-3 Arizona lead. And when center fielder Dane Myers fell, Carroll ran all the way to third.
Then came the strangest ‘throw’ of the season. Gabriel Moreno flied to right. Hector Rodriguez cocked to throw home. Tne ball, though, squirted out of his hand and headed toward left field as Carroll scored to mak it 5-3.
The Reds put their leadoff man on base in the eighth when Eugenio Suarez was hit by a pitch. Matt McLain struck out on a full count, JJ Bleday grounded into a fielder’s choice and pinch-hitter Jose Trevino lined to right.
The Reds put up a legitimate challenge in the ninth inning after there were two outs and nobody on.
Sal Stewart (who else?) lobbed a single down the right field line, his second hit.
Arizona’s arguably best players is second baseman Ketel Marte. But he went AWOL from the team in Boston, then landed on the injured list with a knee problem.
So Vargas was manning second base when Myers hit a routine slow roller right at him. He booted it for an error.
Instead of game over, the Reds had the potential tying runs on second and first and the potential go-ahead run standing in the batter’s box in the personage of Tyler Stephenson.
Arizona left-hander Brandon Garcia began the inning, but D-Backs manager Torey Lovullo brougtht in right-hander Kevin Ginkel, the team’s sixth pitcher.
And here is how the at bat went for Stephenson:
Strike. Strike. Foul ball. Foul ball. Ball. Then at 3-and-2, Ginkel threw a breaking ball that hooked directly over plate for a called strike three.
Game over.
The Reds only scoring inning was the third, three straight hits to start the inning and a fourth hit with one out.
It began with a sharp double to left on an 0-and-2 pitch by Elly De La Cruz. Stewart drove him home with a single to right, his 98th RBI.
Myers doubled Stewart home and Suarez’s one-out single scored Myers for the 3-0 lead.
Bleday walked on a full count to put Reds on second and first, a threat for more runs, but third-string catcher Will Banfield grounded out.
And as happens so often with the Reds, after putting up an early crooked number, they took the rest of the day off, enabling the D-Backs to take the series two games to one.
Arizona right fielder Corbin Carroll, a bundle of energy with flying feel, contributed six hits in the series that included a triple and two doubles. He scored three runs.
The Reds vacate the Sonoran Dessert and open a three-game series Monday night in San Francisco to face the Giants, losers in 15 of their 20 games in August.
After Thursday off, the Reds pop into Wrigley Field next weekend for three against the Chicago Cubs, who beat Seattle Sunday, 19-2.