By Hal McCoy
Blake Dunn was a double-edged sword for the Cincinnati Reds, first with his glove and then with his bat.
Like the Dos Equis guy, he is becoming the most interesting man on the Reds roster. They are riding him so hard recently they should put a saddle cloth on him.
Dunn helped save the Reds from being swept Saturday by the St. Louis Cardinals in a rain-forced day-night doubleheader.
After the lethargic Reds were held to two hits (one by Dunn) in an 8-1 pummeling in Game One, they came alive in Game Two to snatch a 7-6 11-inning victory.
And it wasn’t easy. They coughed up a 5-1 lead after five innings and they led, 6-4, in the ninth.
But Tony Santillan gave up two runs in the ninth to send it into extra innings at 6-6.
Reds relief pitcher Pierce Johnson, forced to start the 10th and 11th with the ghost runner on second base, kept the Cardinals from scoring, with some help from Dunn.
With two outs and a runner on third in the 11th, Ivan Herrera lifted a shallow blooper into right field, a certain run-scoring single.
But Dunn, close to a world-class sprinter, raced in to make a sliding run-saving catch.
Spencer Steer was Cincinnati’s ghost runner and P.J. Higgins bunted him to third. Dane Myers walked on four pitches, bringing up Dunn, batting leadoff for the first time with the Reds.
Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol deployed a five-man infield. It almost worked. But didn’t.
Dunn hit a ball up the middle that shortstop Masyn Winn fielded and threw an off-balance peg home.
Steer slid head-first across the plate and the Reds had a walk-off win.
Dunn, a recent call-up from Triple-A Louisville, is laying permanent claim on right field with his .351 batting average and his go-get-everything in the outfield.
“He is just playing the game,” said manager Tito Francona about Dunn. “He doesn’t try to do too much, just plays the game. And he is doing a really good job of it.”
After losing game one, the Reds were 1-10 against National League Central opponents and had lost 10 straight to NLC opponents for the first time ever.
But they fought their way to end the streak in Game Two.
For doubleheaders, teams are permitted to call up a 27th player and the Reds called up Chase Petty to pitch Game 2.
The Cardinals scored one run off him and led 1-0 when the Reds came to bat in the fifth.
The Reds exploded for five runs with a pair of home runs, a three-run shot by Elly De La Cruz and a two-run bolt by Nathaniel Lowe, whose first-game home run was the Reds only run.
And Lowe nearly didn’t come to bat.
With two outs and one on, umpire John Tampane called Sal Stewart out on strikes to presumably end the inning. Stewart challenged and instead of an inning-ending strikeout, Stewart walked.
That enabled Lowe to launch his 435-foot home run to make it 5-1, extremely important runs as it turned out.
Petty ran out of petrol in the sixth and gave up a three-run home run to Jordan Walker and it was 5-4.
The Reds retrieved one run in the sixth when two Reds pinch-hitters, Steer and Dane Miller, hit doubles for a 6-4 lead.
Santillan gave up a ninth-inning leadoff home run to pinch-hitter Jose Fermin to cut it to 6-5, then walked two and gave up the game-tying single to Walker.
The Cardinals were 7-1 in extra-inning games. And after going 7-0 in one-run games in April, the Reds were 1-6 in May until Saturday.
GAME ONE
Nathaniel Lowe provided the Reds with a 1-0 lead leading off the second inning.
That was the Reds’ first hit and next-to-last hit. They had only one more hit and that, too, came in the second inning, a one-out single by Blake Dunn.
From there it was total futility against St. Louis starter Andre Pallante.
He pitched six innings and gave up one run, two hits and walked one. He retired the last 13 batters he faced.
The St. Louis bullpen pitched the final three innings and gave up no runs, no hits and two walks as 22 of the last 24 Reds were set down.
While Pallante is 7-4 for his career against the Reds, the Reds beat him three times last season.
Reds starter Chris Paddack painted a passable start — five innings, three runs, seven hits.
It was only 3-1 when he left, but the bullpen turned it loose by giving up five runs, five hits, five walks and two home runs.
After Sam Moll preserved the 3-1 deficit in the sixth, Connor Phillips let it get away.
His major bugaboo, walks, surfaced again. He walked Ivan Herrara to open the seventh and faced Jordan Walker — 0 for 31 with 17 strikeouts for his career against the Reds.
He crushed a two-run home run and it was 5-1. Phillips issued another walk in the inning. In 29 2/3 innings, Phillips has issued 30 walks, most by a relief pitch in MLB. And he has given up four homers.
“He’s just not throwing enough strikes,” said Francona in a wild understatement. “We’re trying to work with him like crazy on the running game and things like that. He’s blessed with a really good arm and he can spin it.
“But until he starts throwing the ball where he wants to, it can be a struggle,” he added. “The other day he did great (a 1-2-3 inning in Philadelphia. He just has to follow it up, be a little more consistent.”
Paddack is 0-6, but the first five losses came when he was with Miami. He threw nine straight first-pitch strikes to start the game, then the walk disease hit him in the third.
He struck out the first batter, then walked the next two and both came around to score to give St. Louis a 2-1 lead and the Cardinals never looked back.
“The only frustrating part of the whole outing was falling behind in the counts that led to those two walks to speedy guys you don’t want on the bases,” he said. “I just have to clean up the walks because we’re so close to putting it all together.
“It’s frustrating, still looking for that first win,” he added. “It can be draining, but the coaches are patting me on the back and the players are there for me. But it is frustrating behing 0-6.”
Jose Franco followed Phillips and the Cardinals whipped him for three runs on three hits and three walks over two innings.
The big blast came off the bat of Bryan Torres, making his major league debut after eight years in the minor leagues. Torres collected his first major league hit in the fourth, a single. In the ninth against Franco he cracked a two-run homer to make it 8-1.