McCoy: Reds, Greene Stop Braves, 4-1

By Hal McCoy

As has been their habit in this topsy-turvy season, the Cincinnati Reds resemble a World Series-bound team when they play baseball’s elite.

After enduring a three-game sweep at the hands and feet of the lowly Washington Nationals over the weekend, they played practically perfect baseball Monday night against the potent but crippled Atlanta Braves.

Not only did they beat the Braves, they assaulted All-Star pitcher Reynaldo Lopez en route to a 4-1 victory.

Lopez owned the league’s best earned run average (1.88) of all MLB starters and hadn’t given up more than three runs all year.

And in 13 of his previous 17 starts, he had given up two or fewer runs.

The Reds, though, ripped into him for four runs and seven hits in six innings to end their four-game losing streak.

On the flip side, Cincinnati All-Star pitcher Hunter Greene pitched like an All-Star. He gave up only two singles in seven innings and kicked his way out of more coffins than Bela Lugosi.

The Braves put their leadoff batters on base in the second, third, fourth and fifth innings. And they put their first two on in the second.

And they didn’t score.

Greene threw a season-high 112 pitches while walking three and striking out seven.

Of his team’s penchant for losing to weaker teams with below-average pitchers, but beating the best teams and best pitchers, Greene told Bally Sports Ohio after the game, “We do really good when we play up and we gotta play up all the time no matter who our competition is.

“The boys know that and we have to really tap into that mind-set and believe that before the game starts,” he added. “We play really good teams and we come out and play hard. We have to keep that consistency. Our focus is good and we gotta get back locked in.”

The Reds are catching the Braves at an opportune time. They’ve lost three straight and six of their last nine, mostly due to an injury plague.

They are missing position players Ronald Acuna Jr., Ozzie Albies, Michael Taylor and pitchers Spencer Strider and Max Fried. And the Braves signed infielder Whit Merrifield (released by the Phillies) and on his first day in an Atlanta uniform he injured the index fingers on his throwing hand during infield practice.

Offensively, it was all about Elly De La Cruz and Will Benson.

De La Cruz set the tone in the first inning with a triple into the right field corner, extending his hitting streak to 10 games. He scored on Jeimer Candelario’s sacrifice fly,

Benson, an Atlanta native, was 0 for 10 with a .188 batting average when the game began, but he homered with one out in the third.

De La Cruz kept it going with an infield hit and showed his Olympic-style speed by scoring from first on Candelarios’s double to right field. The double ended Candelario’s 0 for 18 stretch of futility.

The Reds added their fourth run in the fifth when Lopez hit Stuart Fairchild, who was batting .133 against right-handed pitchers.

Fairchild swiped second and took third on Benson’s single. Benson then stole second and Fairchild scored on Jonathan India’s sacrifice fly.

Not only did Benson homer, single, walk and steal two bases, he made another stupefuying catch in left field to save two runs.

The Braves had two on with two outs in the second when catcher and Wright State University product Sean Murphy blistered a line drive. Benson fled toward the warning track and made a diving backhanded catch.

So what does this all mean for the Reds, other than squatter’s rights on last place in the National League Central?

Despite the glossy win Monday, it means they can hang a sign on the front of their dugout that reads: “Players for trade or sale. Inquire within.”

With their loss to Miami in the last game before the All-Star game, three straight losses after the break to Washington and despite Monday night’s big win over Atlanta, it is as clear as a starlet’s pretty face that the Reds are all but finished for the 2024 season.

Reports from several sources say the Reds are telling teams that all their potential free agent players are available.

Pitchers in their walk years include Frankie Montas, Nick Martinez, Buck Farmer, Lucas Sims and Justin Wilson.

The Baltimore Orioles, thirsting for pitching help, are said to be interested in Montas and Martinez.

Nearly all contending teams seek bullpen help, even if the Reds bullpen of late has been a pigpen.

That was emphasized again Monday in the ninth when Reds closer Alexis Diaz flirted with disaster and spoiled the shutout.

He gave up a leadoff single to Marcell Ozuna, walked Adam Duvall and gave up a sacrifice fly to Eddie Rosario. He went to 3-and-2 on Murphy with a runner on second. . .and balked him to third. Then he walked Murphy.

That put runners on third and first with the potential tying run in the batter’s box, Orlando Arcia. He flied out to left on the first pitch and it was a 4-1 Reds win.

Greene tried to pump up Diaz after the game and said, “Diaz was a little shaky tonight, but he’s an All-Star, man, he’s a fantastic pitcher. I don’t want him to forget that. He knows he is that guy. He has that confidence.”

The only Reds position player who becomes a free agent after the season is Austin Slater, but the Reds probably would be happy to discharge outfielder Benson and infielder Candelario.

Even celebrity/singer-actor Nick Lachey, a Cincinnati native and devout Reds fan, is frustrated. After the Reds were swept in Washington, he tweeted, “This is getting to be a sad, tired story. Something’s gotta change.”

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