Category: Cincinnati Reds

By Hal McCoy
Contributing Writer

It was the perfect preparation for their difficult upcoming assignment for the Cincinnati Reds.

Their next examination is against the Milwaukee Brewers in Milwaukee Monday, Tuesday and Wednesay.

And first place in the National League Central is the carrot dangling in front of the Reds.

After completing a three-game sweep of the Arizona Diamondbacks Sunday afternoon in Great American Ball Park, 7-3, the Reds are a half-game behind the Brewers.

To accomplishment their assignment of capturing first place, the Reds must turn things around from their dismal performances so far this season against the Brewers.

They are 2-and-9 against the Brew Crew and have lost five straight, three via shutouts. They’ve been outscored, 45-31, and 16 of those runs have come in two games.

And these are the final three games of the season between the Reds and Brewers.

With their victory Sunday, the Reds carted a five-game winning streak aboard their chartered airplane to Milwaukee Sunday night. The sweep of the Diamondbacks, losers in 12 of their lasrt 16, was the first since 2012, when just inducted Hall of Famer Scott Rolen played third base for the Reds.

As has been the case for a long time now, it wa the rookies and the bullpen that carried the day.

The Diamondbacks, like so many teams, are short of starting pitchers and used a bullpen starter, Jose Ruiz, followed by four relief pitchers.

Ironically, the Reds used a normal starter, Luke Weaver, but manager David Bell followed him with six relief pitchers.

Elly De La Cruz, battling a 2 for 31slump, opened the bottom of the first with a mammoth 407-foot home run, only his second since his cycle against the Atlanta Braves June 24.

The Reds gave Weaver a 3-0 lead in the second on a two-out single by Christian Encarnacion and a home run on a full count by Nick Senzel.

Weaver teetered on the edge in the first, third and fourth, but escaped unfettered each time.

He put two on in the first with one out, but got a pair of fly balls. He put three on in the third and had two on with two outs before coaxing another fly ball. He put two on with two outs in the fourth and struck out Alek Thomas.

It all fell apart for him in the sixth, three Arizona runs to tie it, 3-3. Geraldo Perdomo opened with a single and came all the way around on Ketel Marte’s infield hit and first baseman Spencer Steer’s error when he missed Weaver’s throw.

Rookie Corbin Carroll picked on his next pitch and added to his Rookie of the Year credentials by launching a 446-foot home run to dead center, a home run that crashed against the steamboat.

When Christian Walker doubled, Weaver’s day was over — four-plus innings, three runs, eight hits, two walks and Carroll’s second home run in two days.

The procession from the bullpen began — Buck Farmer, Derek Law, Ian Gibaut, Fernando Cruz, Levi Stoudt and Lucas Sims.

And they were up to the challenge for their five innings — no runs, two hits, three walks and seven strikeouts.

The Reds broke the 3-3 tie in the sixth. Matt McLain opened with a single and stole second. . .for a few moments. Replay/Review saw him as out.

Steer then single to left and came around to score on Jake Fraley’s double. Fraley was thrown out trying to expand the double to a triple, but the Reds had a 4-3 lead.

The Reds put it away with a three-run uprising in the eighth. TJ Friedl opened with a single and took third on McLain’s single. Steer singled home Friedl, Jonathan India walked and CES ripped a two-run single and the 4-3 lead expanded to 7-3.

The D-Backs, known around Phoenix as the Answerbacks, had no answer. . .until an uprising in the ninth.

With closer Alexis Diaz unavailable due to three appearances in the last four games, manager David Bell entrusted the four-run lead to Levi Stoudt. On this day, in Levi Stoudt they didn’t trust.

He gave up a leadoff triple to Geraldo Perdomo and a walk to Marte, who was on base five times with two singles and three walks.

He struck out Carroll, but Bell went to Lucas Sims. He walked Walker to fill the bases with one out and the potential tying run walked to the plate, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. He led the D-backs in hitting into double plays with 12.

Make it 13. He hit into a McLain to India to Steer game-ending double play.

The Youngsters — Friedl, McLain, Steer and CES, plus No. 3 catcher Luke Maile — each had two hits. Steer scored two and CES drove in two.

So now it is on the Milwaukee and the Reds roll into town on five straight high notes.

By Hal McCoy
Contributing Writer

Q: If I have a question regarding the Cleveland baseball teams of years past is it politically correct to reference them as Indians or Guardians? — DAVE, Miamisburg/Centerville/Beavercreek.
A: That’s one I wrestle with. Growing up in Akron, I’ve been an Indians/Guardians fan all my life. To me, they are the Indians. I abhor the Guardians name. To get around it, I just refer to the team as Cleveland. Since they changed the nickname under pressure, we have to assume that Indians is politically incorrect. Go Cleveland.

Q: I watched a game the Cleveland Guardians players and they had a Marathon Oil patch on the left sleeve and I thought advertising was frowned upon if not illegal, on MLB unifors? — BILL, Englewood.
A: You are behind the times. Have you watched a Reds game? They wear a Kroger patch on their sleeves and get paid $5 million a year for it. A year ago, the San Diego Padres were wearing, and still are, a Motorola patch. MLB has approved the sleeve advertising and I fear it is only the beginning and it won’t be long before MLB uniforms resemble a NASCAR driver’s suit completely covered with advertising patches.

Q: You recently listed players who had Dayton backgrounds playing in the majors, so were there any Dayton players in the old Negro Leagues? — JACK, Beavercreek
A: I’m sure there were, although records are flimsy. Actually, Dayton had a team in the first professional black league, the Negro National League when it was formed in 1920. They were the Dayton Marcos becaue owner Moses Moore owned the New Marcos Hotel. They finished last that first year with a 16-36 record, 23 games behind the Chicago American Giants. As the story goes, team representative John Matthews fell asleep durig a league meeting after the season. When he awoke, the league had taken his franchise and divided his players among the other clubs, many to the Columbus Buckeyes. Moral: Get your sleep the night before a league meeting.

Q: Is there a small, current volume that simplifies baseball that I can study so that I don’t feel like a dummy since I’ve begun watching the Reds and following your stories? — VIVIAN, Piqua.
A: I certainly never would call you a dummy, but since you used the term I can suggest a book called ‘Baseball For Dummies,’ written by former Reds player and Hall of Famer Joe Morgan with Richard Lally. It breaks baseball down to the common denominator. And it can be purchased on line for as low as $5.79. You can’t even buy a bag of peanuts at the ball park for that price.

Q: The Reds had two balks called on them recently, so is there an uptick on balks called against the Reds this season? — KEVIN, Florence, KY.
A: Not even close. The Reds have had three balks called on them so far. That is far down the list. Only seven teams have fewer than three. Amazingly, the Awful A’s have zero. It looks as if the umpires might not like the New York Yankees. They lead MLB with 11. Second is Toronto with 10. And I didn’t even balk at answering this question.

Q: As a kid, I listened to Waite Hoyt re-create Reds road games from a Cincinnati studio by reading a Western Union ticker, so when did broadcasters and writers start traveling with the team? — JERRY, Springfield.
A: Writers traveled with the team as far back as the 1920s and I still love reading about scribes traveling with the teams on trains and interacting with the players in Pullman cars. As for broadcasters, they were limited by technology and it improved so much that they began traveling in the 1960s. When I began covering the Reds in 1973, Al Michaels and Joe Nuxhall were making road trips. We traveled on charter airplanes, but I always wished we could go by trains. I love the rails.

Q: Why are Reds’ pitchers hurt so often and it seems like all the time in the last few years? — DENNIS, Cincinnati.
A: That’s one for Mother Nature. Injuries to pitchers are not endemic to the Reds. It is rampant throughout baseball. Check the injured list on MLB’s web-site. Every team is strongly represented with pitchers — the Reds, the Dodgers, the Mets. Pitching a baseball is unnatural to the arm, shoulder and elbow. Supreme stress is put on those areas. Even pitchers with perfect mechanics get injured.That;s why I believe long-term contracts for pitchers is absurd. They are one pitch away from oblivion.

Q: Is it true, according to Wikipedia, that the last time a National League pitcher won a Gold Glove was more than ten years ago and it was Cincinnati’s Bronson Arroyo? — DAVID, Kettering.
A: The only thing true about that is that, yes, Arroyo won a Gold Glove in 2008, the only Reds pitcher ever to win it. But there is a National League winner every year and Atlanta’s Max Fried has won it the last three seasons. Gold Gloves for every position, one in both leagues, have been awarded every year since 1957. Atlanta’s Greg Maddux won it 18 out of 19 times during his career. Bob Gibson won it nine straight trimes. Zack Greinke won it six straight years. In the American League, Jim Kaat won it 14 straight times. And you know where I found this information? Wikipedia.

Q: In the thousands of games you have covered, which was the worst weather game? — KOZ, Springfield.
A: Of the more than 7,000 MLB games I’ve covered, one stands out weather-wise. On October 2, 1999, the Reds played the Milwaukee Brewers in old County Stadium. Bad enough that it was 44 degrees, but it rained and rained and rained. There were three long rain delays. The playing time was 3:17, but it started at 12:15 and ended close to 8:00. I set a record by eating eight brats and metts. The outfield was a pond, Right fielder Dmitri Young made a sliding catch and nearly drowned as a high rooster-tail raised above his feet. The Reds lost, 10-6, but won the next day, 7-1, on the final day of the regular season, tying them with the New York Mets for a wild card spot. Unfortunately, the Reds lost a play-in game the next day to the Mets in Riverfront Stadium, a 5-0 shutout by Al Leiter. No playoffs for the Reds.

 

 

 

 

 

By Hal McCoy
Contributing Writer

For the Cincinnati Reds, it was back-to-back-to back jacks, Mac, Saturday afternoon in Great American Ball Park.

TJ Friedl, Matt McLain and Jake Fraley hit succesive home runs in the sixth inning, all the runs the Reds needed for a 4-2 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks.

It was Cincinnati’s fourth straight victory, achieved in front of 40,625 boisterous patrons.

And it didn’t look promising through five innings against Louisville native and Bellarmine University product Brandon Faadt.

The Reds filled the bases with nobody out in the first inning but didn’t score. Fraley struck out, Jonathan India struck out and Joey Votto (2 for 32) grounded weakly to second.

Faadt, a rookie with a 0-3 record and a 9.82 earned run average, went on a ‘Yer out’ stretch, retiring 16 straight.

Fortunately for the Reds,Brandon Williamson (2-2) was on his game, annexing the win with six innings of one-run, three-hit pitching .

The Diamondbacks put their leaoff runners on base in the fourth, fifth and sixth, finally breaking through for a run in the sixth.

Williamson retired the first nine in a row before issuing a leadoff walk in the fourth and a leadoff double in the fifth, the first hit off Williamson.

The D-backs broke through in the sixth when number nine hitter Jake McCarthy doubled and scored on Ketel Marte’s single for a 1-0 lead.

Then a cloudless thunderstrom hit GABP in the personage of Friedl, McLain and Fraley.

With one out, Friedl tried to bunt and fouled it for strike two. Then he pulled one down the right field line, just inside the right field foul pole. Home run. 1-1.

McLain, who hit a grand slam in Friday’s 9-6 win, powered one 404-feet into the left field upper deck. Home run. 2-1.

Fraley wasted no time in making in three in a row, yanking one into the right field seats. Home run. 3-1.

For the Rally Reds, it was their 35th come-from-behind win over a team nicknamed the Answerbacks for their ability to come back.

And they tried to answer back in the ninth inning against closer Alexis Diaz.

The Reds scored an insurance run in the eighth on new leadoff man Spencer Steer’s single, a double by Friedl and pinch-runner Elly De La Cruz’s sprint home on Fraley’s ground ball.

De La Cruz, snagged in a 2 for 31 funk, was given the day off and Steer batted leadoff for the first time this season. And he collected a pair of hits and pinch-runner De La Cruz scored for him..

That gave Diaz a 4-1 cushion that he came close to exploding.

With one out, Arizona’s Rookie of the Year candidate, Corbin Carroll, homered (Hey, what about McLain or De La Cruz or Steer or Christian Encarnacion-Strand for ROY?)

With two outs,Christian Walker doubled and pinch-hitter Alek Thomas represented the possible tying run. Diaz struck him out to nail his 29th save in 30 opportunities.

And the back-to-back-to-backers? All three huddled together on the field for a post-game interview with Bally Sports Ohio.

“Yeah, that was a big weight off my shoulders,” said Friedl. “I’m just trying to grind it out on at bats, trying to get something good to hit. He got a pitch up and I said, ‘Oh,that’s it. It’s gone.’”

Then McLain, faced with matching what Friedl did, hits most of his home runs (10) to the opposite field, but pulled this one toward Covington, Ky.

“It was a fastball in, that’s about it,” he said. “For sure, it pumps you up when he hit a home run in front of you. Why not try to do it again?”

Friedl laughed at McLain’s comment and said, “That’s a good answer. You get a fastball in, you pull it.”

After back-to-backers, it was Fraley’s turn.

“I’m crappin’ my pants,” he said. “I’m tryin’ to do the best I can. You can’t one-up that. One of them hits a home run and the next one does it. I’m just trying to make sure I get a good pitch to hit and don’t get to amped up in the moment.”

So after losing six straight, the Reds have won four straight and are breathing down first-place Milwaukee’s collective necks.

“This is baseball, we’re not robots,” said Fraley. “We’re still gonna lose games, have tough at bat, go through periods where we struggle.

“There is no higher level than this and the teams we are playing are big league teams with big league pitchers who are very good at their jobs. We just have to keep grinding and we get wins like this, do what we’ve been doing. It’s a testament to what kind of guys we have, the talent we have, and we trust each other.”

While the Reds have won four straight, Arizona not so long ago was in first place in the National League West, but have lost 11 of 15 and abdicated first place to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

“

“

By Hal McCoy
Contributing Writer

With an Alex Cobb-Andrew Abbott match-up, fans expected a pitch-to-pitch grind-it-out affair Thursday afternoon in Great American Ball Park.

They were half right

Abbott, the Cincinnati Reds rookie left-hander, was as untouchable as Eliot Ness, while his teammates took apart Cobb, San Francisco’s 34-year-old All-Star pitcher.

The result was an easy 5-1 Reds victory to split the series at two games apiece.

Abbott (5-2) silenced the Giants on no runs, one hit, two walks and six strikeouts. The hit was a double in he fourth inning by Luis Matos.

He pitched eight innings, the longest start by a Reds starter this season, a 106-pitch clinic. Had he not gone to full counts on five hitters, he might have pitched a complete game.

Instead, Derek Law pitched the ninth and blemished the shutout when he gave up a two-out home run to Wilmer Flores, his fourth home run of the series.

The Reds, though, gained no real estate on first-place Milwaukee. The Brewers shut out Philadelphia, 4-0, to maintain a 2 1/2 game spread on the Reds in the National League Central.

The Giants were so frustrated it appeared they wished they could order some runs and hits from Amazon.

How frustrated?

When Casey Schmitt struck out in the third inning, swinging at ball four on a full count, he pounded his bat in the dirt. Joc Pederson tried to bunt with two strikes in the fifth and fouled it for a strikeout.

The real frustration surfaced in the fifth when Wilmer Flores opened the inning with a walk. With two outs, Matos hit his double when left fielder Will Benson made a circuitous route chasing it.

Flores, more a miler than a sprinter, tried to score from first. Major mistake. Shortstop Elly De La Cruz took Benson’s relay throw and fired a 99.8 miles an hour strike to home plate.

Catcher Luke Maile could have made a phone call before Flores arrived and he was out from here to there and back to here again. De La Cruz’s throw was the hardest throw on an infielder’s assist since StatCast began tracking throws in 2015.

Cobb? He entered the game with a 6-2 record and a 2.87 earned run average. The Reds were neither intimidated nor impressed.

In 4 1/3 innings, they scored five runs on nine hits, the second most runs off Cobb this season. And he did not strike out a single batter.

Cobb opened the third by walking Benson. Number nine hitter, Luke Maile, who is Abbott’s personal caddy/catcher, unloaded a 423-foot two-run home run deep into the left-center seats.

That’s all the runs Abbott (5-2) needed, but the Reds added two in the fourth. Jonathan India doubled and Christian Encarnacion-Strand singled him home. Benson doubled and CES circled hls way home for a 4-0 lead.

They added one more off Cobb in the fifth on a one-out double by Jake Faley and a run-scoring single by India. When Cobb walked Joey Votto, his short day that seemed long was done.

In addition to his home run, Maile added two singles to Cincinnati’s 12-hit assault. Fraley, India and Benson each chipped in two hit

With three catchers on the roster, Maile sees limited playing time. But because of the rapport he and Abbott develped together in the minors, Maile has caught all nine Abbott starts.

And he had a startling statment about Abbott’s day during a post-game interview with Bally Sports Ohio.

“He just competed and I would say it was probably in the bottom half of his stuff in terms of all his starts,” said Maile. “He had to really fight through some stuff, but he made big pitches. He is just such a great competitor and keeps it in the zone enough.

But. . .Eight innings? No runs? One hit?

“It means he has a lot of composure and he doesn’t feel like a rookie out there,” said Maile. “It feels like he has been doing this for a long time.”

Maile has only 106 platae appearances, some few and far apart, but he has four homers and seven doubles.

“It is about as tough as you want it to be,” said Maile about his lengthy times between strapping on the gear. “It is a decision you have to make (to approach it). You’d like to be in a little more of a rhythm, but at the same time they have to throw it over the white part (of home plate) sometime. You might as well be ready for it.”

In Maile’s case, he is ready, willing and oh so ready.

The Reds begin a three-game series Friday night against a mirror-image team, the Arizona Diamondbacks, a young team that is aggressive.

The Diamondbacks, second place in the National League West behind the Los Angeles Dodgers, came within a few outs of sweeping the Atlanta Braves this week.

They won the first two and led Game 3 by 4-1 in the seventh. But the Braves scored two in the seventh and four in the eighth to win, 7-5.

 

By Hal McCoy
Contributing Writer

How in the name of Abner Doubleday did the Cincinnati Reds bring a six-game losing streak to a conclusion Wednesday night in Great Americn Ball Park?

How do you win a game when you get hits in only one inning and nothing in the other seven?

How do you win a game when your last 17 batters make outs?

That, though, was the scenario as the Reds not only brought their losing streak to an end, but also ended San Francisco’s seven-game wining streak, 3-2.

The answer revolves around two names — Will Benson and Graham Ashcraft.

The Reds had only four hits, all in the third inning, with Benson providing the exclamation point with a three-run homer.

Ashcraft escaped two early problems and pitched six innings of two-run, five-hit baseball, then Ian 
Gibaut, Lucas Sims and Alexis Diaz put San Francisco’s bats in cold storage the rest of the way.

Giants starter Ross Stripling retired the first six in order and the Reds didn’t get the ball out of the infield, six ground balls.

Christian Encarnacion-Strand, playing first base in the Reds all-rookie infield (Matt McLain at second, Spencer Steer at third, Elly De La Cruz at short), opened the third with a line single to center.

Tyler Stephenson singled to right-center bringing up baseball’s most productive number nine hitter, Benson, to the plate. He drilled a Stripling slider into the left field seats, his eighth homer and second in two days, to provide his team’s only runs.

TJ Friedl slapped a hustle-double with two outs and that was that, 17 up and 17 down.

Ashcraft’s escape acts came in the second and in the fifth.

Luis Matos led the second with a double and took third on Blake Sabol’s infield single off Ashcraft’s body, putting runners on third and first with no outs. Ashcraft struck out David Villar. And he struck out Brett Wisely while Sabol tried to steal second. Stephenson threw him out. End of inning.

Ashcraft filled the bases with no outs in the fifth and wriggled out of it with only one run. He hit Villar with a pitch then walked Wisely on four pitches and walked Casey Schmitt on four pitches, filling them up.

But Encarnacion-Strand started a 3-6-1 double play on which Ashcraft hustled to cover first and take the relay throw. A run scored on the play and Wisley took third. But Ashcraft coaxed an inning-ending pop-up from Mike Yastrzemski.

Ashcraft took the mound for the seventh and gave up a home run to Sabol, cutting the lead to 3-2.
Manager David Bell went to his bullpen and Ian Gibaut went 1-2-3.

Lucas Sims arrived for the eighth and gave up a leadoff single and hit a batter with two outs. He squirmed free by getting Matos to fly to left.

That left it up to closer Alexis Diaz and he made quick work of it with two strikeouts and a game-ending grounder back to the mound for his 27th save and a win for Ashcraft (5-7).

Benson has been one of baseball’s most productive bats after his early-season 1-for-25 that got him a demotion to Class AAA Louisville. Since his return he is hitting .357 with some big hits, none bigger than his homer Wednseday.

“I didn’t think it was going to be enough, to be honest, but it was,” said Benson during a post-game on-the-field interview with Bally Sports Ohio.

“Yes. . .I got a slider in the middle of the plate,” he said of Stripling’s offering. “I was just looking for a good pitch to hit and I wanted to be aggressive on pitches in the middle of the zone. That’s what happened.”

Since his return from his Louisville exile, he has found his name consistently on the lineup card.

“It’s a blessing,” he said. “I want to thank David Bell for trusting me and putting me in the lineup every day and thank myself for going out there and putting my best foot forward.

“Once I see my name in the lineup I’m going to put my best foot forward and go from there,” he added. “I go out there and be aggressive, ready to swing. It’s all about trusting yourself and trusting your mechanics. You can’t really learn when you are passive, especially when you get to this level because these guys are really good.
Benson is good, too, really, really good.

The Reds didn’t gain any ground in their pursuit of the Milwaukee Brewers, who beat Philadelphia Wednesday, 5-3, and remain 2 1/2 games ahead of the Reds in the National League Central.

The Reds (51-46) have played 97 games and 40 have been decided by one-run. Their record in one-run games is 21-19. The Giants, 1 1/2 games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Central, are 12-11 in one-run games.

By Hal McCoy
Contributing Writer

Not even their lucky charm could stop the Cincinnati Reds from losing their sixth straight game Tuesday night in Great American Ball Park.

And he wasn’t so lucky.

Even though Luke Weaver’s record was only 2-2, the Reds had won all eight of his last eight starts, despite his 8.66 earned run average in those games.

But he was knocked out of the game, literally, by a line drive hit by Michael Conforto off his left elbow in the third inning

It ended with a wild 11-10 loss to the San Francisco Giants, after they lost the resumption of Monday’s suspende game earlier in the day, 4-2.

Not even 10 runs could produce a win.

Not even 14 hits could produce a win.

Not even four home runs coud produce a win.

Not even a dramatic pinch-hit three-run home run by Christian Encarnacion-Strand, his first major league hit that gave the Reds an 8-7 lead could produce a win.

Not even Joey Votto’s 350th carer home run that pulled the Reds within one run in the seventh inning could produce a win.

They didn’t win because they can’t keep Wilmer Flores from smashing the baseball all over GABP. He hit two homers, a sacrifice fly, drove in five runs and scored three.

That went along with a home run, two doubles and two RBI in the suspended game.

They didn’t win because they walked the number eight hitter twice and he scored three runs.

They didn’t win because Reds pitchers walked eight and three scored.

In fact, despite the Giants collecting 11 hits and hitting three home runs, it was two walks that finally sealed Cincinnati’s doom.

It was 8-8 after six innings and Buck Farmer issued a walk and a two-out single. Manager David Bell brought in Tony Santillan, fresh off the injured list.

He walked Wisely to fill the bases and walked number nine hitter Casey Schmitt to force in a run that provided the Giants with a 9-8 lead.

Luis Matos, inserted into the game in the fifth inning, delivered a two-run single and it was 11-8, a lead that Reds almost surmounted, but not quite.

For the Reds, the night’s highlight was Encarnacion-Strand’s home run.

Jake Fraley hit a two-run home run in the first, but when his turn came in the fifth against Giants left-hander Sean Manaea, Bell made a bold move.

He sent the raw rookie to pinch-hit, his fourth major-league at bat. Giants manager Gabe Kapler countered by bringing in right-haned Mauricio Llovero.

There were two men on and one out, the Reds down, 7-5. The count went to 0-and-2 and Encarnacion-Strand fouled one off. Then he saw a hanging 84 miles an hour slider and cold-cocked it 426 feet into the upper deck in left field.

The Reds had a slight chance in the ninth against premiere closer Camilo Doval. Jonathan India beat out a broken bat grounder to third with one out. Votto walked on a full count, putting the possible tying run on second and the winning run on first.

But it ended when Spencer Steer hit into a double play for Doval’s MLB-leading 30th save.

The suspended game wandered into the 10th inning and the Reds flummoxed a game-winning opportunity in the ninth.

Ella De La Cruz opened the inning by working a hard-earned 3-and-2 walk after fouling off two full-count pitches.

He bolted for second and was called out, but replay/review overturned the call. He was safe and was the potential winning run on second with no outs.

And pitcher Tyler Rogers picked him off.

Ian Gibaut started the 10th and Joc Pederson shote a full-count pitch over left-fielder Will Benson’s head, scoring the ghost runner.

Pederson took third when Gibaut hit the knob of Wilmer Flores’ bat and it squirted to first baseman Joey Votto. Pederson scored on a ground ball to second baseman Jonathan India and it was 4-2.

Matt McLain was the ghost runner in the bottom of the 10th and didn’t score. San Francisco closer Camilo Doval retired three straight, striking out India and Votto to end it, Doval’s MLB-leading 29th save.

And the Reds entered the regularly schedule game on a five-game losing streak against the Giants’ six-game winning streak

So now the Reds have lost six straight and the Giants have won seven in a row.

By Hal McCoy
Contributing Writer

Mother Nature put a temporary halt to what could have been a game-deciding San Francisco Giants rallly Monday night in Great American Ball Park.

With the score tied, 2-2, in the top of the eighth inning, the Giants had runners on third and second with one out.

Then a severe thunderstorm stopped the rally, put it on delay. After waiting two hours, the game was suspended.

It will be picked up were it left off before Tuesday’s regularly scheduled game.

For a team in a futile search for runs, even hits, the Reds faced a steep mountain challenge Monday ni

After scoring only three runs and seven hits during three straight losses to the Milwaukee Brewers, they were challenged to face Logan Webb, the Giants best pitcher.

And the Giants came to town on a five-game winning streak and a road record of 19-6 over their last six series, all wins, four of them sweeps.

In addition, San Francisco starting pitchers had given up three or fewer runs in 13 sraight games.

In Webb’s previous start, he pitched a complete-game seven-hit shutout against Colorado with no walks and 10 strikeouts.

The Reds had never scored a run against Webb. In three appearances, he had pitched 13 scoreless innings.

Reds manager David Bell scrambled his batting order, attempting to find some fire. He had Elly De La Cruz batting leadoff, dropped TJ Friedl from leadoff to second and dropped Matt McLain from second to third.

And there was a newcomer in the lineup. The Reds called up Christian Encarnacion-Strand from Louisville and Bell immediately installed him as the designated hitter, seventh in the batting order.

Before he even took the field, Encarnacio-Strand set a major-league record — with 26 letters, his name is the longest ever to take a major-league field.

His name is so long they could only put Encarnacion on the back of his jersey. But he requested the media to use his full Christian Encarnacion-Strand name.

After seven innings, the score was 2-2 and all four runs came on solo home runs.

The Reds quickly eliminated their string of zeros against Webb when McLain cracked a two-out home run in the first inning.

San Francisco tied it against Reds starter Brandon Williiamson when leadoff hitter Austin Slater slaughtered a pitch 448 feet high into the right field seats.

The Giants took a 2-1 lead in the sixth when Wilmer Flores drove a home run into the lower seats in left field.

And the Reds answered. Jonathan India came into the game 3 for 28. He singled in the doubled in the fifth and tied it, 2-2, with a leadoff home run in the seventh. At the time, he had three of the Reds’ four hits off Webb.

Fernando Cruz pitched a 1-2-3 seventh and Bell brought in lefthander Alex Young to face lefthanded pinch-hitter Joc Pederson to open the eighth.

He walked Pederson and gave up a double to Flores, his third hit, put runners on third and second with no outs. Michael Conforto grounded to first and the runners held.

Then heavy rains assaulted GABP, forcing the tarpaulin to be pulled onto the field for the rain delay. Mother Nature seemingly did the Reds a huge favor because Webb won’t be able to pitch Tuesday.

For his seven innings, he gave up two runs, four hits (three by India, one by McLain), walked none and struck out seven.

He extended the streak of Giants’ starting pitchers giving up three or fewer runs to 14 game.