HalMcCoy.com

By HAL McCOY

CINCINNATI — Billy Hamilton swung hard and watched his soft line drive heading toward Pittsburgh Pirates first baseman Josh Bell and Hamilton said to himself, “Is it high enough? Is it high enough?”

It was. Barely. Bell leaped and nearly nabbed the baseball, but it escaped his grasp and landed in the grass behind him.

Arismendy Alcantara sprinted home from second base and the Cincinnati Reds had a 10th-inning walk-off victory over the Pirates, 4-3, Monday night in Great American Ball Park, with nearly nobody there to witness it.

THE WAY THINGS HAVE GONE for Hamilton, it would not have shocked him had Bell snagged the ball. Hamilton entered the game hitting .213 and hadn’t had a two-hit game in nearly three weeks.

And he already had his one hit for the day, a single in the first inning, after which he stole second and third, but didn’t score.

But he converted this time and said, “I had some good at bats during the game and my confidence was up. I didn’t want to strike out in that situation (with two outs). I didn’t give up and battled even when I got to two strikes.”

REDS STARTING PITCHER AMIR Garrett didn’t get the win despite giving up only two hits over his seven innings. Unfortunately for him, both hits were home runs — Andrew McCutchen and Cincinnati native Josh Harrison.

But Garrett could have annexed the win after Adam Duvall crashed a three-run home run in the sixth, the first runs of the game against Pittsburgh starter Gerrit Cole.

That gave the Reds a 3-2 lead, but Drew Storen gave up another home run to Josh Harrison, a long blast in the eighth that tied it, 3-3, wiping away Garrett’s victory.

The Pirates ended up with only three hits, all three home runs.

THE LAST TIME GARRETT WAS on the pitching mound, the Milwaukee Brewers not only knocked him off his high horse, they trampled him with 10 runs in 3 1/3 innings.

That didn’t happen Monday night on the GABP mound. Garrett sat tall in the saddle against the Pirates, just the two hits in seven innings.

“It was a good bounceback game for me,” said Garrett, now 3-and-2. “I’m very happy with the outcome. The game against the Brewers? Everything was up for some reason. But it wasn’t something I could fix right away, not in that game at the moment.

“But I had a good bullpen and in the game tonight everything was down and I was able to work off that,” he said. The two errant pitches? McCutchen hit a hanging slider and Harrison hit a fastball away, “And he went with it and put a great swing on it,” said Garrett.

With one out in the bottom of the 10th, Tucker Barnhart worked a full-count walk against Pittsburgh relief pitcher Daniel Hudson.

Alcantara ran for Barnhart and Hudson twice nearly threw the ball away trying to pick him off. On his third try he did throw it away and Alcantara scooted to second, making it easy for him to score on Hamilton’s hit.

“The catalyst again, two days in a row, was Tucker Barnhart grinding out a walk to set the stage,” said manager Bryan Price. “That walk ended up leading to the winning run.”

Said Hamilton of Alcantara (pinch-running for Barnhart) drawing the pickoff error to get in scoring position, “For me, I don’t hit too many balls deep so it would be tough for me to drive him in from first base. When he got to second it makes it easier for a hitter like me.”

Of course, without Duvall’s big blast in the eighth after Hamilton reach on an error and Joey Votto walked on a full count, the Reds would not
have been in position to steal this one away from the Pirates, the Reds fourth straight win over Pittsburgh this season.

“Duvall is terrific and it is always sitting there pending with him,” said Price. “Nobody is going to be great every day, but the threat he has of an extra base hit, a three-run homer or a solo shot to tie it late, he never seems to be in a situation he can’t handle.”

And it was a tough go, but Garrett kept a handle on it until Duvall and Hamilton could clinch it.

By HAL McCOY

For five innings Sunday afternoon in Busch Stadium, it looked as if it was same ol’ and same ol’ and some ol’ for the Cincinnati Reds against the St. Louis Cardinals.

Put ‘em on base and leave ‘em there.

They left two runners on base in the first, two runners on base in the second and two runners on third against former teammate Mike Leake.

And they trailed, 4-0, after Matt Carpenter’s three-run double in the fifth inning.

FOR ONCE, THOUGH, it was the other team’s bullpen suffering a meltdown and the Reds came from behind to score a 5-4 victory.

With the win, the Reds avoided a road sweep. They were 1-and-4 on trip after losing three straight in Milwaukee and the first game in St. Louis. They were rained out Saturday.

LEAKE, WHO ENTERED THE game 3-and-1 with a 1.32 earned run average, gave up a run in the sixth on a double by Adam Duvall and a single by Scott Schebler.

Duvall, 2 for 17 during the first four games of the trip, finished the day with four hits, including three doubles.

Leake left the game after six innings, believing he finally owned a win over the Reds. He is 0-and-3 in five starts against the Reds while pitching for the Cardinals. The Cardinals have now lost all six games Leake has started against the Reds.

REDS STARTER BRONSON ARROYO was solid for four innings, holding the Cardinals to one run. But things got away from him in the sixth.

Leake started it with a single and Dexter Fowler singled. Aledmys Diaz walked to fill the bases and Carpenter unloaded them with a three-run double over right fielder Schebler’s head.

With Leake out of the game in the seventh, the Reds went to work against Matt Bowman and they did most of their damage with two outs.

Billy Hamilton led with a single before Zack Cozart struck out, one of three times he struck out Sunday. Joey Votto grounded out, putting a runner on second with two outs.

Duvall doubled to right to cut the margin to 4-2. Eugenio Suarez singled to right to make it 4-3 and Suarez went all the way to third on a Cardinals throwing error.

BRENT CECIL REPLACED BOWMAN and Schebler doubled to right to tie it, 4-4.

Trevor Rosenthal began the eighth for the Cardinals by walked Tucker Barnhart on four pitches. Pinch-hitter Devin Mesoraco singled and Rosenthal walked Billy Hamilton on four pitches.

That loaded the bases with no outs but the Reds scored only one run — just enough.

Cozart struck out. That brought up Votto, 0 for 5 with three strikeouts against Rosenthal. But Votto lined a 2-and-2 pitch into center field for a run and a 5-4 lead.

With the bases still full and a chance for the Reds to break it open Duvall struck out and Suarez popped out.

MANAGER BRYAN PRICE BROUGHT in Raisel Iglesias for a two-inning save and he wobbled but survived.

He walked Stephen Piscotty to open the eighth. Yadier Molina struck out and Piscotty was caught in a rundown. Iglesias then struck out Randal Grichuk.

The Cardinals put their first runner on base in the ninth, too, and he reached third base. Kolten Wong singled, took second on pinch-hitter Greg Garcia’s grounder, took third on Dexter Fowler’s grounder but stood on third as the game ended on Aledmys Diaz’s first-pitch ground ball to third.

In addition to the two scoreless innings for Iglesias, the Reds received scoreless innings from Michael Lorenzen and Wandy Peralta, who got the win.

And in addition to Duvall’s four hits, Schebler had three hits and drove in two, Votto had two hits and Tucker Barnhart had two hits.

The Reds have won three of their last 12, all three victories started by Arroyo. The other starters are 0-and-9.

By HAL McCOY

Inexcusable. Unfathomable. Incomprehensible. The ultimate brain cramp.

What happened to Eugenio Suarez Friday night in Busch Stadium was something that shouldn’t happen to a college player or a high school player, let alone a major league player.

But the Cincinnati Reds third baseman was caught daydreaming on the basepath and it turned into a nightmare.

IT WAS A KEY SITUATION for the Reds in a game they eventually lost to the St. Louis Cardinals, 7-5.

It was the sixth inning and the Reds trailed only by 3-1 when Devin Mesoraco drew a full count walk with two outs.

That filled the bases, temporarily. Suarez trotted from second to third on the walk. Then inexplicably he rounded third base and took two steps toward home.

Then he turned his back on home plate and stared toward left field. St. Louis catcher Yadier Molina, still holding the ball after the walk, saw Suarez in a fog and fired the ball to third baseman Jedd Gyorko. He applied the tag on Suarez. Instead of bases loaded with two outs, the inning was over.

THEN IN THE BOTTOM OF the sixth the Cardinals scored three runs off starter Tim Adleman to seemingly put the game away.

And it became even bigger when the Reds scored four runs in the eighth inning to come from 7-1 behind to 7-5.

So the Reds lost for the ninth time in their last 10 games.

THE REDS TOOK A 1-0 lead when Scott Schebler hit his third home run in two days, a long blast in the second inning off St. Louis starter Lance Lynn.

The Cardinals scored three times in the third in an inning that began with third baseman Suarez drawing a throwing error on a ball that should have been handled by first baseman Joey Votto.

Kolten Wong quickly doubled for a run and Dexter Fowler lined a two-run home run to make it 3-1.

Gyorko homered with one out in the sixth, then came a walk and a single by Molina, ending Adleman’s night.

BLAKE WOOD TOOK OVER and Randal Grichuk singled for a run. After another walk pinch-hitter Matt Adams hit a deep, bases-loaded sacrifice fly to right for a 6-1 lead.

REDS MANAGER BRYAN Price made a slight adjustment in the lineup. Jose Peraza was given the day off and Zack Cozart was moved from seventh in the batting order to second.

It didn’t work.

Leadoff hitter Billy Hamilton had a hit, but he also struck out twice and has whiffed eight times in his last 19 at bats.

After the Clydesdales were already out of the barn, the Reds scored their four runs in the eighth, started with a single by Cozart and Joey Votto’s eighth home run.

With runners in scoring position, it is a sad story recently. In their last four games, all losses, they are 5 for 37 and 1 for 22 with runners in scoring position.

They were 0 for 20 until Scooter Gennett’s two-run double in the eighth that drew the Reds to within 7-5.

Hamilton came to bat in the eighth with two on and two outs and popped up the first pitch thrown by St. Louis closer Seung Hwan Oh.

Oh then quickly and silently put down the heart of the Reds order in the ninth — ground ball by Cozart, called strike three on Votto, which he disputed, and pop out by Adam (0 for 5) Duvall.

Catcher Devin Mesoraco, almost a year to the day since he last played a game for the Reds, returned to the lineup Friday.

He struck out with two on base in his first at bat, then drew the walk on which Suarez was picked off third base, and singled.

“Take a shower, wash off the day.” — Charlotte Eriksson.

By HAL McCOY

Rookie Davis and the Cincinnati Reds wish it were only that easy — take a shower, wash off the day.

They take a shower every game after playing the Milwaukee Brewers only to have the Brewers throw dirt all over them the next day.

For the third straight day the Reds left Miller Park with dirt all over them, this time a 9-4 defeat to the Brewers.

That completed a three-game sweep by the Brewers during which they scored 29 runs while beating the Reds for the sixth time in seven games this year.

And the Reds left Milwaukee, headed for St. Louis, after losing seven of their last eight games overall.

WHEN A TEAM IS MIRED, its feet in clay, the last thing it wants is to have to send a rookie to the mound, a rookie making his second major league start and coming off an injury.

That, though, is what the Reds had to do Wednesday afternoon in Miller Park and it was sending Rookie Davis to the slaughter.

Seven of the first Brewers in the first inning had base hits and Milwaukee scored five times. On a positive and sarcastic note — at least he didn’t walk anybody.

And in the middle of he first inning, Brewers broadcaster Bob Uecker uttered, “The Brewers are really taking the Reds to task.” Really?

JOEY VOTTO GAVETHE REDS a 1-0 lead in the top of the first against Wily Peralta with his seventh home run.

Then came the bottom of the first and it went like this:

Jonathan Villar bunted for a hit. Eric Thames singled. Ryan Braun doubled for two runs (2-1). Travis Shaw singled. Hernan Perez flied to the warning track, a sacrifice fly (3-1). Shaw stole third standing up. Jeff Bandy singled (4-1). Nick Franklin singled. Orlando Arcia doubled for a run (5-1).

For the mathematically challenged, that’s eight batters, five runs, seven hits, one out.

Because the bullpen is battered and gutted, manager Bryan Price had to to leave Davis in to take a whipping, and a whipping he took.

He gave up another run in the second and when he gave up a two-run home run to No. 8 hitter Orlando Arcia and a two-out single to Villar in the third, Price finally pulled the plug on Davis.

His line was a besmirched 2 2/3 innings, eight runs, 11 hits, one walk, two strikeouts.

Rookie Amir Garrett gave up 10 runs in 3 1/3 innings Monday and the Brewers racked up 18 runs over six innings against the two rookies.

INCLUDING VOTTO’S FIRST-INNING home run, the Reds hit four home runs, all with the bases empty — two by Scott Schebler and one by Adam Duvall, accounting for all four Cincinnati Reds runs. But it was way too little and way too late.

They had opportunities. They had two on with two outs in the third, but Votto grounded out.

They had runners on second and third with two outs in the fourth, but Billy Hamilton struck out.

They had two on with one out in the fifth, but Eugenio Suarez grounded into a double play.

They had two on with no outs in the sixth, but Scooter Gennett, Hamilton and Jose Peraza all popped up.

They were 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position.

After the Brewers scored eight runs against Davis, the Reds bullpen shut the Brewers down on one run and three hits over the final 5 1/3 innings but, like the home runs, it was way too little and way too late.

On a positive note, for the first time this year Brewers first baseman Eric Thames didn’t hit a home run against the Reds.

By HAL McCOY

A major league manager doesn’t like to dial 911 this early in the season, but Cincinnati Reds manager Bryan Price should at least have his fingers poised above the keys.

What his batting order is doing right now isn’t working, especially the top two spots of Billy Hamilton and Jose Peraza.

Isn’t a shuffle due?

The Reds lost for the fifth time in six games Tuesday night in Milwaukee, a 9-1 annihilation, the fifth time in six games they’ve been beaten down by the Brewers.

And for the first time this season the Reds are below .500 at 10-and-11.

THE IGNITION SWITCH ISN’T working. Billy Hamilton struck out his first four times and went 0 for 5 Tuesday night and he is hitting .213. Although Peraza had two hits, one was a squibber-dribbler into short right field and the other was an infield hit. He is hitting .226.

Meanwhile, Zack Cozart, batting seventh, continues to mangle every pitch he sees and is hitting .386 with four triples.

There were times in the past that Price put Cozart in the leadoff spot and dropped Hamilton to eighth. Is it time again?

AND THE TEAM AS A whole is back into that nasty habit of leaving runners in scoring position and Tuesday was one of the season’s worst.

—SECOND INNING: They had runners on first and third with two outs and Tucker Barnhart flied to center.

—THIRD INNING: Once again the Reds had runners on first and third with two outs and Adam Duvall flied to center.

—FOURTH INNING: They had runners on second and third with one out but Barnhart was called out on strikes and pitcher Scott Feldman flied to left.

—SIXTH INNING: They had runners on first and second with one out before Barnhart hit into a double play, giving him stranded runners in three at bats.

For once Brewers first baseman Eric Thames did not do major destruction against the Reds. And it wasn’t Ryan Braun.

The Brewers have another Reds tormentor in their lineup. His name is Perez and it isn’t Rosie Perez, who took a short cut in the New York Marathon. It is Hernan Perez and he takes no short cuts against the Reds.

In the second inning Reds pitcher Scott Feldman issued a two-out walk to Manny Pina and Perez pushed a run-scoring triple to the right field corner.

Feldman had two outs in the fourth when he gave up another run-scoring triple to Perez, this time to right center for a 2-0 Brewers lead.

After Perez’s second triple, Feldman intentionally walked Keon Broxton to get to pitcher Zach Davies. Incredibly, he also walked Davies, who was hitting .075, to load the bases and Jonathan Villar rolled a two-run single under Feldman’s glove and into center field to make it 4-0.

ROBERT STEPHENSON REPLACED Feldman in the sixth and Perez greeted him with a home run to make it 5-0.

Against the rest of the league, Perez is 4 for 31 with one RBI. After the sixth inning, Perez is 8 for 13 with 10 RBI in the four games he has played against the Reds.

He has one extra base hit against the Reds of the league and seven against the Reds.

The Perez home run was the beginning of a nightmare for Stephenson, who can’t seem to find his way.

After Perez homered, Keon Broxton hit the top of the center field wall for a double. Right fielder Scott Schebler dropped a routine fly ball. Villar dropped a two-run double down the right field line.

And, oh yes, Eric Thames got into the act. He drilled a home run to right field, his 11th of the year, eight against the Reds and it was 9-0 —five straight hitters reaching base against Stephenson.

He finally got an out before Travis Shaw singled, his third hit of the night. After getting a second out he issued a walk and his night was done — nine batters, five runs, six hits (two homers, two doubles, a single) and a walk).

Barrett Astin, called up Tuesday from Class AAA Louisville, replaced Stephenson and wisely walked Perez on four pitches to load the bases. Then he got the final out and the Reds traipsed off the field down, 9-0, and Milwaukee manager Craig Counsell mercifully removed Perez and Thames from the game.

Adam Duvall prevented the Reds from suffering the ignominy of a shutout by hitting his sixth home run with one out in the eighth inning.

By HAL McCOY

The Milwaukee Brewers play like the ’27 Yankees against the Cincinnati Reds and Brewers first baseman Eric Thames hits the Reds like Babe Ruth.

The Brewers were thoroughly unimpressed with the hype and early success of Reds rookie pitcher Amir Garrett and his 1.83 earned run average.

Before Monday night was over, the Brewers sent Garrett to an early trip to the clubhouse with his earned run average exploded to 5.09.

IN JUST 3 2/3 INNINGS THE Brewers pasted Garrett for 10 runs (nine earned) and eight hits. He walked four and all four scored.

It all added up to an 11-6 Brewers victory, their fourth victory in five games this year against the Reds.

And most of the heavy lifting was done by Thames, a home run in each of the first two innings when the Brewers built a 6-1 lead.

Thames, the player the Brewers signed out of Korea, has 10 home runs this season, seven against the Reds. And he has 11 RBI against Cincinnati.

BILLY HAMILTON LED THE game with a first pitch single, stole second on the next pitch and continued to third on the catcher’s throwing error.

So the Reds had a runner on third with no outs. They didn’t score, a harbinger of things to come.

Garrett retired Jonathan Villar on the first pitch of the bottom of the first and then the Miller Park roof collapsed on his head as he struggled with his control and fell behind hitters.

Thames hit a two-strike home run. After a walk and a single put two runners on. But with two outs Hernan Perez cracked a three-run home run to make it 4-0.

THE REDS SCORED A RUN in the second, but the Brewers recovered two of them with their third home run off Garrett. He walked Jonathan Villar with two outs and Thames struck again, a two-run home run to make it 6-1.

A three-run home run by suddenly revitalized Scott Schebler in the third put the Reds back in the game at 6-4.

Garrett, though, walked the first batter in the bottom of the third and Perez doubled him home for a 7-4 Brewers lead. Shortstop Zack Cozart made a two-out throwing error and opposing pitcher Matt Garza singled home the Brewers eighth run.

MANAGER BRYAN PRICE SENT the shell-shocked Garrett back out for the fourth because of an overtaxed and short bullpen and he gave up a walk, a run-scoring single to Ryan Braun and a run-scoring single to Manny Pina to push the score to 10-4 and Garrett’s long, long night was over.

As he put it succinctly in his post-game interview with FoxSportsOhio and the media, “It just wasn’t my night.”

THEN CAME THE HIGHLIGHT of the night for the Reds on a night when their lights mostly were turned out.

On this date last year, Ariel Hernandez was pitching for the low Class A Dayton Dragons.

On an emergency basis because the Reds needed a fresh arm, Hernandez was called up Sunday from Class AA Pensacola.

And he made his major league debut Monday, replacing Garrett with two outs in the fourth, the eighth player this season to make his major league debut for the Reds.

Hernandez hit the speed gun at 100 miles an hour three times, threw several at 98-99 and retired all eight Brewers he faced, five on strikeouts. The only hard hit ball came off the bat of Thames, of course, a hard line drive to left center that Hamilton chased down.

HERNANDEZ, a 25-YEAR-OLD Dominican righthander, was a minor league Rule V draft by the Louisville Bats from the Hillsboro Hops in the Arizona Diamondbacks system in December, 2015.

Hernandez was originally signed by the San Francisco Giants as a free agent in 2008. He spent two years in the Dominican Summer League and three seasons in the Arizona Rookie League but didn’t show much and he was released in the spring of 2015.

He didn’t give up and go back to the Dominican. He played independent baseball in the Frontier League then was signed by the Arizona Diamondbacks in mid-2015. The Reds selected him in the minor league portion of the December 2015 Rule 5 draft and he pitching for Dayton in 2016.

A year later he was on the mound in Miller Park performing like another Hernandez of the past — Orlando El Duque Hernandez.

EVEN WITH GARRETT’S one-game meltdown, the Reds kept threatening. They trailed 10-6 in the eighth and had the base loaded with two outs. Joey Votto, the potential tying run, grounded out to shortstop.

In addition to his three-run home run, Schebler had a run-scoring double for four RBI.

Zack Cozart scored three runs and had two hits, including his fourth triple of the season.

Stuart Turner, catching Garrett after Tucker Barnhart caught his first three games, had a pair of doubles and drove in two.

Nevertheless, it only added up to the Reds fifth loss in their last six games.

By HAL McCOY

CINCINNATI — Are there any more questions about why 40-year-old Bronson Arroyo occupies a spot in the Cincinnati Reds rotation or are there any more comments about Arroyo hogging a roster spot for no apparent reason?

Arroyo put on a pitching tutorial Sunday afternoon against the mighty, mighty, mighty Chicago Cubs in Great American Ball Park.

Not only was it a performance that the young pitchers with the Reds should have watched intently, they should have taken copious notes.

Arroyo’s message, as exhibited on the mound was: “This is how you do it. It is not necessary to try to throw a baseball through unbreakable glass. It is only necessary to throw strike after strike after strike after strike and permit a free-swinging team like the Cubs get themselves out.”

THROWING AN ASSORTMENT OF soggy donut pitches ranging between 65 and 86 miles an hour from 15 arm angles and 15 arm slots, Arroyo held the Cubs to two runs and three hits over six innings. And the Reds rescued the final game of the three-game series, 7-5.

Arroyo retired the first 10 in a row. In the first inning he threw 14 pitches, 13 for strikes. After three perfect innings he had thrown 23 pitches, 20 for strikes.

He struck out the side in the fifth. In the sixth he struck out Kyle Schwarber on a 76 miles an hour pitch and struck out Kris Bryant on a 74 miles an hour pitch.

He actually warmed up on the mound before each inning, but it wasn’t necessary. He was wasting bullets and the pitches he threw in games were like batting practice deliveries.

EXCEPT HE HAD THE CUBS dragging their bats back to the dugouts muttering things like, “I can’t believe we can’t hit this guy.”

And that’s the way it has always been for baseball’s version of a Frisbee thrower. Or, as Arroyo described it, “Going to war without that great of a gun.”

How DOES he do it?

“How can I perform on this level with limited stuff?” he said. “I pitch outside the box a bit and I have a very unique set of skills that isn’t necessarily whatever everyone else has. I can throw some very awkward-looking and strange-shaped pitches in any given count.

“It gives me the opportunity to make guys feel uncomfortable at the plate and never really settle in at the plate,” he added. “That’s the way I’ve performed my entire career, so just because my velocity has diminished it doesn’t hurt me. My curveball velocity hasn’t diminished and that’s a funny thing. My fastball is down a bit but I can still throw the breaking ball at 78 and I never really threw it harder than that. I can still spin the ball at a good enough rate to make guys uncomfortable.

“It’s all about savvy and what you’ve acquired over the years,” he said.

Arroyo’s mother named him after rugged, villainous movie star Charles Bronson, who once said, “Audiences like to see the bad guys get their comeuppance.”

Arroyo, though, is nothing but the best of the good guys and it is difficult not to blatantly root for his success, especially after he missed nearly three years with arm and shoulder problems.

In an effort to return to the game, he told the Reds to fill in any numbers they wanted on a contract and he’d sign it, which they did and he did. And the naysayers were rampant on social media when Arroyo struggled during his first two starts while he re-set and re-tuned his pitching mechanics.

And he still isn’t back to where he was in 2013 when he was a 14-game winner with a 3.79 ERA.

“My arm feels fine and normal when I start the game,” he said. “But there are some irregularities still in there and it hurts as the game progresses. In between starts I can barely touch a baseball. But I think I can work that out of there and if I do I can be what I was in 2013.”

THE REDS SCORED A RUN in the first inning against Cubs start John Lackey. Billy Hamilton singled and on the first two pitches to Jose Peraza he stole second and third. He scored on Joey Votto’s sacrifice fly.

Scott Schebler, 1 for his last 20, cracked a two-out solo home run in the second to make it 2-0.

The Cubs scored their only runs off Arroyo in the fourth when Kris Bryant singled and Anthony Rizzo hit his third homer in three days against the Reds, tying the game, 2-2.

Scooter Gennett’s double and Schebler’s single broke the tie and gave the Reds a 3-2 lead in the fourth, only Schebler’s second two-hit game of the season.

The Reds broke it apart in the sixth when the first four batters of the inning reached and all four scored. Patrick Kivlehan, a late insertion into the lineup, cleared the full bases with a three-run double.

SO AFTER LOSING THE FIRST two to the World Series champions, the Reds turned to a 40-year-old guy coming off a three-year hiatus to be the stopper.
“In the past, I loved being the guy taking the ball after we’d lost three or four in a row,” he said. “You always want to be the guy who can stop the bleeding. But being in the position I’m in now, you have the champs at the plate and they also ran a nice lefthanded lineup out there against us, it was a hell of a win.”

And one hell of a comeback by a true craftsman took another step forward.

By HAL McCOY

CINCINNATI — It was Jerry Reed, not Cody Reed, who sang, “When you’re hot, you’re hot. When you’re not, you’re not.”

Cody Reed, though, can sing the second part of that verse, “When you’re not, you’re not.”

After retiring the last 18 batters he faced out of the bullpen this season, seven via strikeouts, the 24-year-old lefthander was given a starting assignment Saturday afternoon in Great American Ball Park against the Chicago Cubs.

And Reed was as cold as the damp, chill environment on the river, probably colder, as the Reds fell to the Cubs, 12-8.

In two innings, the 23-year-old bespectacled lefthander could barely keep the baseball in the same zip code — seven runs, four hits, five walks, three strikeouts and three wild pitches. REED HAD CATCHER TUCKER Barnhart leaving footprints all over the grass behind home plate to the backstop chasing errant and elusive baseballs.

It was a debacle as soon as it started. Reed walked leadoff hitter Kyle Schwarber on four pitches to start the game. Then he walked Kris Bryant.

He didn’t walk Anthony Rizzo, but probably should have. Instead Rizzo reversed a 1-and-1 93 miles an hour belt-high fastball over the right field wall and the Cubs led, 3-0, before echoes of The Star-Spangled Banner subsided.

Guess what? The first three Reds scored in the bottom of the first off Jake Arrieta on a three-run home run by Joey Votto. And Eugenio Suarez also homered to give the Reds a 4-3 lead after one inning.

ARRIETA PITCHED A NO-HITTER against the Reds at GABP last season, but that was quickly wiped away when Jose Peraza, leading off for the Reds, singled to center.

Scooter Gennett hit a double play ground ball to second base, but second baseman Javier Baez threw the ball into left field and both runners were safe. Two pitches later it was 3-3 when Votto pole-axed his sixth home run on a 1-and-0 pitch. Scouts watching Arrieta, who can become a free agent after this season, say his fastball is down three to four miles per hour from last season.

After Adam Duvall struck out, one of four times he struck out, Eugenio Suarez reached the left field stands with his fourth home run on a 1-and-1 Arrieta offering and the Reds led, 4-3.

AH, SOME RELIEF FOR Reed? Not for long. He had to pitch the second inning. And he retired the first two.

Then he gave up a single and walked the next two, loading the bases. The first pitch he threw to catcher Wilson Contreras, a 92 miles an hour fastball was ripped over the left center wall, a grand slam and a 7-4 Cubs lead.

When the third inning began, Reed stayed in safe cover in the dugout and he was replaced by Lisalverto Bonilla, making his Reds debut after a call-up Saturday from Class AAA Louisville.

Reed, with the media surrounding his post-game dressing quarters, was long and deliberate as he fiddled several minutes with a cellphone, dressed in slow motion, tied his shoes with the speed of a kindergartner. After a quick trip to the bathroom, he returned, took a deep sigh and faced the mob.

“You saw the game. It wasn’t that good,” he said, understating the obvious. “I just have to keep on keepin’ on, pretty much.”

Asked if he was jittery returning to the rotation, he shrugged and said, “I’ve started before, had good starts before (he is 0-and-8 for his career as a starter). I pitched well against the Cardinals one time so I know I can do it. I just have to do it.”

Asked if something was amiss mechanically, he quickly said, “No. Uh-uh. Nah. It is just frustrating in general. I’m not executing and doing what I need to do. We score eight runs and we lost. That’s tough.”

Bonilla became an innings-eater, five of them, but let the game get out of hand when he gave up a three-run home run in the sixth inning by Jason Heyward to push the score to 11-5.

For his five innings Bonilla gave up four rusn, three hits, three walks and struck out six.

IT ISN’T LIKELY REED WILL start again in five days. Rookie Davis is expected off the disabled list by then and Tim Adleman also is an alternative.

“It is one thing acknowledge it (first-inning jitters), it is another thing to correct it,” said manager Bryan Price. “With Cody it was about not getting the ball in the strike zone. It is hard to manage around a big first inning. A three-run first and a four-run second didn’t give him enough time to settle into that game.

“He is an outstanding young pitcher but you can consistently find yourself in those types of ballgames very often,” Price added. “It is hard to ask your bullpen to cover those innings and ask your players to fight back from those types of deficits.

“We are going to have to find a way to right the ship with Cody as a starter,.” said Price. “We have to find a way to get him over the hump in those early innings. I mean, he threw six perfect innings out of the bullpen against good teams and that’s impressive. It is in there. The talent is in there. It is part our responsibility but a lot of it is his responsibility to extract that talent and let it work.”

AFTER THE FIRST TWO INNINGS, Arrieta settled in to survive six innings, giving up five runs and eights hits, walking none and striking out eight. He gave up only two hits from the third through the sixth and he struck out four of the last five Reds he faced en route to lifting his record to 3-and-0. After Arrieta left, Suarez hit his second home run of the day and fifth of the season in the eighth inning, much too little and way too late to help rescue this one.

In the first two games of his series the Cubs have hit six home runs — three in each game — and have homered in 17 consecutive games in Great American Ball Park.

With the win, regardless of Sunday’s outcome, the Cubs clinched the series and have won seven of the last eight series against the Reds and 20 of the last 24 games.

For what it is worth, the Reds outhit the Cubs 14-9 and Votto drove in five runs. But the Reds are trying to abort a bit of a free fall. After starting 7-and-3, they have lost six of their last eight and fallen to .500 at 9-and-9.

By HAL McCOY

CINCINNATI — It is early, just a few minutes past midnight in baseball time, with a lifetime remaining to the 2017 season.

Even so, who would have thought about it? Who would have dreamed about it? Who would dare suggest it?

The World Series champion Chicago Cubs and the Cincinnati Reds, everybody’s pick to drag bottom in the National League Central, played a game for first place in Great American Ball Park Friday night.

Unfortunately for the Reds, the Cubs showed them why they are, well, the Cubs. Down three runs with two outs in the ninth inning, Anthony Rizzo cold-cocked a three-run game-tying home run off Michael Lorenzen.

Then a sacrifice fly in the 11th by Kris Bryant after Robert Stephenson issued a walk and a single to Middletown-native Kyle Schwarber complete the Cubs’ heavy statement, a 6-5 victory.

SO AFTER 16 STRAIGHT DAYS of either tied for first or holding first place alone for 16 straight days, the Reds vacated it to the Cubs. And it was their 19th loss in their last 23 games to the Chicago mob.

The question after the game most pushed at manager Bryan Price was why the righthanded Lorenzen, who had thrown 42 pitches, was permitted to face the lefthanded Rizzo, with lefthanded relief pitcher Wandy Peralta warmed and ready in the bullpen.

“That was Lorenzen’s game to finish,” said Price. “He was one out and one pitch away from ending the game and he gives up a three-run homer.

“That’s a second-guesser’s delight, if you like that sort of thing. But I had the best guy we had available in our bullpen to face the Cubs’ in the ninth with a three-run lead,” Price added. “He just didn’t get it done. I won’t lose any sleep over the decisions. It was a tough one to lose but there is nothing I will second-guess as far as decisions go.”

PERALTA CAME IN FOR THE 10th and pitched a 1-2-3 inning with two strikeouts. Stephenson pitched the 11th and gave up a one-out walk on a full count to Albert Almora, a hard single to right field by Schwarber that sent Almora to third and he scored the game-winner on Bryant’s medium-depth fly to left.

Of the home run to Rizzo in the ninth, Lorenzen said, “I was going to challenge him and throw every pitch with conviction, just like every pitch I throw. I threw it with conviction and he got me. You tip your cap to him because he is a good hitter, he’s Anthony Rizzo for a reason.”

THIS ONE SHOULD HAVE BELONGED to pitcher Tim Adelman, both on the mound and at the plate. He pitched six innings and gave up two runs, both on home runs, four hits, walked two and struck out seven.
Just as importantly, after Cubs manager Joe Maddon ordered Reds catcher Tucker Barnhart intentionally walked, Adleman put a depth charge into one that clanked off the left center wall, a two-run double in the third that gave the Reds a 3-2 lead that they steadfastly refused to give up, until there were two outs and two on in the ninth and Rizzo did his deed.

It was a twist of fate that Adleman even started Friday’s game. He was called up from Class AAA Louisville last Sunday as an insurance policy, a backup bullpenner for Sal Romano, who was making his major league debut.

But Romano gave up four walks in three innings and used up 82 pitches, forcing manager Bryan Price to bring in Adleman. The former Independent League pitcher who worked for the Lincoln Salt Dogs, El Paso Diablos and New Jersey Jackals in 2012 and 2013 before the Reds found him, pitched four innings and held Milwaukee to ne run and two hits while walking none and striking out five.

Afterwards Price said, “It is obvious Sal Romano needs a bit more polish, so Tim Adleman will start Friday.”

Fate always seems to come knocking at Adleman’s door and he keeps opening it with a smile, a nod, and a thanks for the opportunity.

ADLEMAN GAVE UP A SOLO home run to Jason Heyward in the fourth and a solo home run to Javier Baez in the fifth and nothing else.

From the sixth through the eighth it was protect and escape time for Adleman and the Reds bullpen, struggling mightily to preserve the 5-2 lead.

—The Cubs put two on with one out against Adleman in the sixth, but he worked out of it with a pair of ground balls.

—Drew Storen put the first two Cubs aboard in the seventh, but retired three in a row with no damage.

—Michael Lorenzen put the first two Cubs abord in the eighth, but retired the next three in a row with no damage.

But there was no escaping Cubs magic in the ninth inning.
Schwarber doubled with one out, putting runners on third and second, then Lorenzen recorded the second out before. . .
CUBS LIGHTNING STRUCK AND STRUCK hard. Anthony Rizzo crushed the first pitch he saw into the right field seats for a three-run game-tying home run.

Trailing 1-0, the Reds broke through against Lester in the fourth on back-to-back doubles by Eugenio Suarez and Zack Cozart that tied it, 1-1. Then came Maddon’s fateful decision to intentionally walk Barnhart so Adleman could drill his two-run double.

Adam Duvall homered to right field in the fifth to make it 4-2 and relief pitcher Justin Grimm performed the near-impossible in the sixth. He walked Jose Peraza with the bases loaded, Pereza’s second walk this season, forcing in a run to make it 5-2.

That’s where it stood with two outs, two on and Rizzo at home plate. And Lorenzen’s first pitch changed the course of the game and the NL Central standings, at leas for one night.