By Hal McCoy
When an MLB team is given chance after chance after chance to win, the inevitability eventually come into play.
That’s exactly what happened to the Cincinnati Reds Friday night in Great American Ball Park against the Miami Marlins, a team the Reds are chasing for a wild card.
And it was a wild one during Miami’s 8-4 victory in front of 38,302 on Harry Potter Night.
The Marlins had hits in every inning but with some Harry Potter magic the Reds led, 4-3, entering the eighth inning.
It looked as if it might be Cincinnati’s ninth straight one-run victory. Despite all those hits, the Marlins were 1 for 11 with runners in scoring position entering the eighth.
But it all disintegrated in the eighth, a bullpen collapse by TeJay Antone and Sam Moll with the Reds on top, 4-3.
Antone opened the inning by hitting Owen Caissie, the fourth straight inning the Marlins put their leadoff batter on base.
Joe Mack singled, sending Caissie to third. Graham Pauley lobbed a sacrifice fly to left and it was 4-4.
Antone then hit a second batter, Esteury Ruiz to put runners on second and first and Antone was taken down for lefthander Sam Moll.
That’s because due up was Marlins lefthander Jakob Marsee, 4 for 4 with a home run.
Strangely, Miami manager Clayton McCullough replaced Marsee with righthanded pinch-hitter Augustine Ramirez.
It worked. Moll walked Ramirez to fill the bases with one out.
A double play would end the inning and leave it at 4-4. And Xavier Edwards did hit a ground ball. But it was into the hole between shortstop and third base.
Reds shortstop De La Cruz fired home for a force out, the second out that preserved the 4-4 tie.
Moll got two strikes on Heriberto Hernandez, but he shot a two-run single to right center. Griffin Conine followed with a run-scoring single and it was 7-4.
The game was back-and forth all night.
Reds starter Brady Singer pitched six innings and gave up hits in all six, but limited the Marlins to three runs.
TOP OF THE THIRD: Jakob Marsee homered on his way to four hits. Marlins, 1-0.
BOTT OF THE THIRD: With one out, Miami right fielder Esteury Ruiz dropped a routine fly ball for an error. Matt McLain, on his way to a three-hit night, doubled to put runners on third and second.
Elly De La Cruz struck out for the second out. Sal Stewart just missed a home run down the left field line that curved foul, then poked the next pitch to right field, a two-run single that tied Stewart with Washington’s CJ Abrams for the RBI lead at 91. Reds, 2-1.
TOP OF THE FOURTH: After Reds second baseman Matt McLain made an incredulous diving stop and throwout on Owen Caissie, Joe Mack hit the next pitch into the right field stands. Tied, 2-2.
TOP OF THE FIFTH: The Marlins scored a run with perfect execution. Marsee singled and continued to second on right fielder Noelvi Marte’s bobble for an error. Xavier Edwards bunted Marssee to third and he scored on a single by Hernandez. Marlins, 3-2.
BOTTOM OF THE FIFTH: Cincinnati’s bottom two hitters, both batting under .200, went back-to-back with home runs, the 11th time this season the Reds have hit back-to-back homers.
First it was Ke’Bryan Hayes with a cloud-scraping blast inside the left field foul pole. Then it was McLain with a line shot over the left field wall. Reds, 4-3.
And that’s how it stood until the fateful eighth. The Marlins put their leadoff batters on base in the sixth and seventh but couldn’t score.
Luis Mey replaced Singer in the seventh and gave up a seeing-eye single to right and an infield single, putting two on with no outs.
He struckout Hernandez and Conine and coaxed a ground ball out from Otto Lopez, one of the top hitters for average in MLB. That left it at 4-3.
Hitting one batter in an inning is rare for Antone, but hitting two challenges the percentages.
“Tejay came in and uncharacteristically wasn’t commanding,” said Reds manager Tito Francona. “He was spinning it and not throwing it where he wanted to. He hit that first guy in the foot.”
When Francona brought in Moll to face Marsee, Francona said, “I didn’t think they’d pinch-hit for a guy who was locked in. We got the force out at the plate, then he (Moll) gives up an 0-2 (hit) that was a dagger for us.”
Singer is on a run of so-called quality starts — six innings and three or less runs. It always seems that Singer gives up three runs in those six innings — a 4.50 earned run average.
Is that quality? Is giving up eight hits and two home runs quality?
Francona believes it.
“You look up and you have a chance to win,” he said. “I didn’t think it was his best, but he competes like crazy, doesn’t give in, you look up and he is near 100 pitches and he has given us a chance to win.”
On this night, it was Miami’s bullpen that played shut-it-down. Four Marlins relief pitchers held the Reds to no runs and two hits over the final 4 1/3 innings.
Miami pitchers didn’t walk anybody and struck out 13 while Reds pitchers walked four, hit three batters, struck out eight and gave up two homers.
The Reds and Marlins finish the three-game series Sunday afternoon, Nick Lodolo (3-2) against Eury Perez (6-9).