By Hal McCoy
The Cincinnati Reds stranded 14 baseruners.
The Cinnati Reds were 3 for 17 with runners in scoring position.
The Cincinnati Reds struck out 16 times.
The Cincinnati Reds put runners on base in each of the first eight innings, but scored in only one of those innings.
And somehow, some way, in a game that had more twists and turns than a road in the Swiss Alps, the Cincinnati Reds beat the San Diego Padres, 5-3, in 11 innings.
The big swing came from the bat of Sal Stewart, 0 for 14 when he came to bat in the 11th inning with ghost runner Blake Dunn on second base and the score tied, 3-3.
He picked on San Diego pitcher Yuki Matsui’s first pitch, an 83 miles an hour cutter, and drove it deep into the Petco Park night, 407 feet over the center field wall.
“He’s the best and he knows it,” said Chase Burns, the Reds starting pitcher. “He’s the greatest and an even better human being. He’s good.”
Said Stewart, “It has been kind of a rough stretch for us ( nine losses in their previous 11 games, but we’re just trying to stick with it, y’know.
“Sometimes I don’t know why the Man above gives us the challenges he does. It hasn’t really been that good for myself, either,” he added. “I’ve had a bad little stretch and I’ve been hearing the outside noise and it kinda motivated me a little bit.”
So many things happened in this game that ended the Reds’ five-game losing streak.
“This may sound masochistic, but it was a fun game to be part of,” said Reds manager Tito Francona. “There was so much going on. There was a lot of frustration.
“We left some runs out there early (and late),” he added. “But we didn’t pay for it. They kept playing, there was good energy and I was really excited about that because when you’re getting beat up and things don’t go well, they just kept plugging.”
Francona was ecstatic that as the game droned on and on and the bullpen was being depleted, starting pitcher Nick Lodolo offered to go to the bullpen.
“Those are the kind of things that lift me a little bit,” said Francona.
Burns, as always, was an untouchable for four of his first five innings. He gave up two runs and six hits over 5 /13 innings, pitching a career most 105 pitches.
The Reds took a 2-0 lead after two innings against San Diego starter Lucas Giolito, a wild man who averages seven walks per nine innings.
And true to form, he walked five, at least one in each of his four innings. But only one scored.
He walked Matt McLain with two outs in the second. McLain stole second, one of his three steals on a night the Reds swiped seven.
Tyler Stephenson singled him home.
Giolito walked two in the third and the Reds had the bases loaded with one out. But they scored only one run on Giolito’s error.
Burns’ one bad inning was the third when he gave up two runs on three straight hits to Fernando Tatis, Jr., Jackson Merrill and Manny Machado.
Tatis finished the night with four hits, but scored only once and had no RBIs. Machado, batting .166, had two hits, his first multi-hit game in five weeks.
It stayed 2-2 through nine innings because the Padres were as bad in the clutch as the Reds — 3 for 20 with runners in scoring position and stranded 13.
Francona sent Burns back out for the sixth, but it was obvious his oxygen tank was near empty.
After he struck out Gavin Sheets, his seventh strikeout, he walked Will Wagner (a son to Hall of Fame closer Billy Wagner) and gave up a double to Samad Taylor.
That was it for Burns. Brock Burke replaced Burns and pinch-hitter Ty France was boldly walked intentionally to fill the bases with one out.
It worked to perfection. Freddy Fermin hit into a 3-2-3 home to first inning-ending double play.
Caleb Ferguson started the eighth and gave up a leadoff double to Tatis and a one-out intentional walk to pinch-hitter Ty France.
Francona brought in Tony Santillan to face Samad Taylor. He missed two bunt attempts and struck out.
Blake Dunn probably saved the game on the next play with two outs and runners on third and first. Pinch-hitter Jace Bower lobbed a broken bat flare into short right.
After a long, long sprint, Dunn dove and snagged the ball for the third out, saving a go ahead run and preserving thd 2-2 tie.
Santillan came back out for the ninth and gave up two straight one-out singles to Sung-Mon Song, who had struck out three times and to Tatis.
Now it was Sam Moll’s turn and the first batter, Jackson Merrill, dribbled an infield single back to Moll, once again loading the bases with one out.
Moll arched his back and struck out both Machado and Gavin Sheets.
Unhittable San Diego closer Mason Miller had pitched a 1-2-3 ninth with two strikeouts and the game wandered into the tenth.
With ghost runner Spencer Steer on second, Eugenio Suarez came to the plate, 0 for 4 with three strikeouts and 3 for his last 42.
He pulled a run-scoring double over the third base bag past diving third baseman Machado and the Reds led, 4-3.
But the Padres tied it in the bottom of the 10th against Tejay Antone on Samad Taylor’s single.
Then came Stewart’s dramatic two-run homer in the 11th and Zach Maxwell pitched a 1-2-3 11th for his first career save.
Maxwell had the ball from the last out on his locker shelf, a fly ball to center by Jackson Merrill.
“Getting your first save is something you remember forever,” he said. “I just tried to stay calm. Sal gave us the two-run lead, so that guy on second didn’t mean anything.
“I just said to keep my head down and get those three outs,” he said. “Confidence? It gives me alot. To be able to go out there against the top of their order and get those three big outs.”