Reds leave entire city of Cincinnati on base, fall 6-2 to Pirates

It was an incredibly frustrating night in a rainy Cincinnati. The Reds squandered a ton of chances and once again lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Reds trailed by 1 run all the way up until the 7th, so the 6-2 final doesn’t really do it justice on how many times they could have taken the lead and put this one away tonight.

The Reds got on the board first in the bottom of the 2nd. Kyle Farmer led off with a single and then moved to third on a single by Eugenio Suarez. Tucker Barnhart would ground into a double play but still brought in Farmer on the play to give the Reds a 1-0 lead. That was unfortunately not the only time the Reds would fail to take more of an advantage of a situation like that.

Both teams were able to score in the 4th inning. Pittsburgh tied the game on a solo dinger by Ben Gamel. The Reds looked as if they would immediately answer back, as they immediately loaded the bases with a couple walks and a single. They were only able to manage one run, as TJ Friedl hit a sacrifice fly to left to score Joey Votto.

The top of the 5th is where things fell apart for Reds’ starter Tyler Mahle. Hoy Park led off with a bloop single to center and then moved to second on a sacrifice bunt. Ke’Bryan Hayes then hit a single and then scored on a single by Cole Tucker. A walk to Brian Reynolds would end Mahle’s night, but not before Pittsburgh took a 3-2 lead.

The Reds threatened with guys on 1st and 3rd in the 6th, and failed to deliver. They loaded the bases with nobody out in the 7th and nobody scored. In one of those innings, Asdrubal Cabrera pinch-hit and extended his hitless streak to 0-20. That 7th inning seemed to break the Reds, as the Pirates broke the game open in the 8th inning, three off of Michael Lorenzen to take a 6-2 lead.

The Reds had plenty of opportunities to win this game before the fateful 8th inning, which just adds to the frustration of the night. With the St. Louis Cardinals leading the Milwaukee Brewers at the time of this writing, this is a kind of loss that puts the nail in the coffin of the Reds’ playoff hopes.

Anyway, eat at Arby’s.

Tony Graphanino