By Hal McCoy
For one night, the 2026 Cincinnati Reds looked like the 1976 Big Red Machine, with Sal Stewart playing the part of Joe Morgan.
The Reds hit five home runs, two by Stewart and four in one inning as the Reds ripped apart the Philadelphia Phillies, 11-5.
As experience goes, the rookie Stewart is a mere plebe, but he is fast becoming the Duke of Dingers.
He has 19 homers and 64 RBI with another week before the All-Star break.
The Reds’ first seven hits were for extra bases, five homers and two doubles, on their way to an 11-hit night.
Noelvi Marte drove in four runs and Stewart drove in three.
Stewart was part of the Reds four-homer fourth inning and part of the Reds hitting three in a row.
The score was 2-2 when the Reds came to bat in the fourth.
Marte began the onslaught against Phillies starter Alan Rangel with a home run into the front row of the left field seats.
Edwin Arroyo doubled off relief pitcher Tanner Banks and took third on right fielder Gabriel Rincone’s error.
TJ Friedl bunted, but through miscommunication Arroyo remained anchored on third and there were two outs.
Then bam, bam and bam. Elly De La Cruz homered. Stewart homered. JJ Bleday homered.
And it was 7-2.
The four home runs in one inning was the first for the Reds since some Fourth of July fireworks in Wrigley Field in 2010. Brandon Phillips, Jonny Gomes, Corky Miller and Drew Stubbs all homered in the seventh inning.
It didn’t start swimmingly for the Reds and starter Chase Burns.
He gave up a double, a triple and a wild pitch to put the Phillies ahead, 2-0, in the second inning.
And center fielder TJ Friedl prevented the Phillies from taking a 3-2 lead in the third.
Burns gave up a two-out single to Brandon Marsh. Byron Stott drove one to deep, deep center. Friedl raced to the wall, leaped high against it, snagged the ball as he crashed intothe wall and crumpled to the ground. . .ball in glove, saving a run.
It was a dark blue night for Burns, who couldn’t find home plat with a compass. He gave up three runs, three hits and walked six while striking out only two in five innings.
Nevertheless, with the Reds offensive thunder he was the winner, pushing his record to 11-1 and the Reds have won 16 of his 18 starts.
But the upcoming offensive explosion began in the third with a leadoff double by De La Cruz.
Stewart walked his first time up on a full count and hadn’t swung his bat. He worked the count to 3-and-2 after the De La Cruz double and still hadn’t swung his bat. . .12 pitches, no swings.
On 3-and-1, Stewart challenged umpire Alfonso Marquez’s strike call. It was Stewart’s 37th challenge, most by far of any batter in MLB.
He was wrong. Strike two. But he whacked the 3-and-2 pitch over the right field wall to tie it, 2-2.
Then came the fourth and the home run barrage. Stewart’s homer was his 19th, passing Frank Robinson for the most by a Reds rookie before the All-Star break.
Both Stewart homers were to right field and 10 of his 19 home runs have been to the opposite field.
But it wasn’t over.
Burns walked the first two in the fifth, but got out of it with one run on a sacrifice fly by Bryson Stott.
“You gotta bear down in moments like that,” said Burns. “I didn’t have my stuff, wasn’t throwing my best, but I knew I just had to get through it.”
Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto homered off Brock Burke in the sixth to make it 7-4 And the Phillies put two on with two out.
That brought Kyle Schwarber to the plate, he of the 31 home runs, including one Tuesday night in Philadelphia’s 4-1 win.
A home run would tie it. Burke struck him out. Schwarber hit a harmless home run in the ninth.
The Reds then put it away with a four-run bottom of the sixth. Phillies relief pitcher Jose Alvarado walked Friedl and De La Cruz to open the inning.
Bleday singled home a run, Steer walked and Marte pulled a three-run double into the left field corner to make it 11-4.
There was nobody more appreciative of his team’s heavy batwork than Burns.
“Sal, Elly, JJ, all those guys. . .that’s a team win right there,” he said. “I didn’t have my great stuff, but for them to come up with their bats swinging like that I’m very appreciative of and it was a good win.”
And he was appreciative of Friedl’s body crash catch into the wall that preserved the 2-2 tie at the time.
“It’s huge. Those guys make plays for me all the time and I’m very much appreciative. . .TJ stepping up and making that catch. I’ll give him a big hug later.”
The Reds’ win was a much needed shot in the solar plexus after they had lost seven of nine and fallen 16 1/2 games behind division-leading Milwaukee and four games behind fourth place Pittsburgh.
The Reds have a chance to take the series Thursday night when Brady Singer (3-8) opposes Philadelphia’s Jesus Luzardo (7-4).