Cincinnati Reds walk off on Washington Nationals again on Nick Castellanos’ HR, 7-6 final...

Keibert Ruiz’s second home run in two games (and third this season) put the Washington Nationals up 6-5 in the top of the seventh inning tonight, after the visiting team in Great American Ball Park blew 1-0, 4-2, and 5-3 leads in the third of four with Cincinnati Reds.

Erick Fedde struggled on the mound in the start, going just 4 ²⁄₃ innings in which he gave up seven hits and five earned runs, but Mason Thompson, Alberto Baldonado, and Jhon Romero combined for 1 ¹⁄₃ scoreless before Andres Machado gave up a run in the bottom half of the seventh, as the Reds rallied to tie it up again, 6-6.

It was still tied in the ninth when Nick Castellanos hit a fastball from Patrick Murphy out to center to win it...

Fedde vs the Reds: Though he’d only gone five innings in each of his last two starts, Erick Fedde had bounced back some after three tough outings in losses to the Mets and Braves.

Going up against the Marlins in back-to-back turns in the rotation, Fedde gave up five runs, three earned, in 10 IP, walking no one and striking out 13, with a .179/.179/.487 line against.

Fedde was frustrated coming out of the second start against the Marlins with three home runs he allowed in what ended up an 8-7 loss angering the starter.

“A lot of those pitches if I execute them, I just don’t think they leave the park,” Fedde said, “so just a little frustrating leaving pitches into their, into the places that I know I shouldn’t throw them.”

Going up against the Reds tonight, Fedde took the mound with a 1-0 lead and retired the side in order in a 15-pitch frame, but he gave up a leadoff single by Tyler Stephenson and back-to-back doubles by Kyle Farmer and Eugenio Suárez, with Suárez’s a ground-rule double that bounced off the track and drove in both runners to put the home team up, 2-1.

With the score 4-2 in the Nationals’ favor after two and a half, Andrew Stevenson misjudged a fly to left off Jonathan India’s bat, and it bounced off the track for a ground-rule double in the first at-bat of the Reds’ third. India moved up on a groundout and scored on a sac fly to make it a one-run game after three, 4-3 Nats.

It was 5-3 Nationals after three and a half, when Fedde hit Kyle Farmer with a pitch to start the Reds’ half of the inning, but Farmer got thrown out trying to steal second base, and the Nats’ starter got an inning-ending 3-6-3 double play after issuing a one-out walk to Eugenio Suárez in the second at-bat of a 16-pitch frame which left him at 63 total.

Fedde was up to 81 pitches with the bases loaded, after giving up two singles around a walk in the home-half of the fifth, and a sac fly by Max Schrock got the runner in from third to get the Reds within one, 5-4. Keibert Ruiz caught Delino DeShields trying to steal third base for out No. 2, but Nick Castellanos dropped a two-out RBI single into short-right to tie it up at 5-5 in the fifth. A walk to Tyler Stephenson ended Fedde’s outing after his 96th pitch...

Erick Fedde’s Line: 4.2 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 3 BB, 1 K, 96 P, 57 S, 7/3 GO/FO.

Gutierrez vs the Nationals: Cincinnati Reds’ right-hander Vladimir Gutierrez agreed to a $4.75M signing bonus with the club back in 2016, and made his MLB debut back in May, after two seasons in the Cuban National Series as a 17-18-year-old between 2013-15.

Coming into tonight’s game, the 26-year-old starter was winless in his last five outings (0-2), with an 8.84 ERA, a 7.42 FIP, seven walks, 12 Ks, and a .329/.384/.645 line against in 18 ¹⁄₃ IP over that stretch, and he fell behind early, walking Juan Soto with two down and giving up a line drive single to right-center by Josh Bell and an RBI double to right by Luis García that put the Nationals up 1-0 after a 1/2-inning in the third game of four in Great American Ball Park.

Alcides Escobar singled to start the third, with the Nationals trailing, 2-1, then Gutierrez put Juan Soto on again, with a second walk, and Josh Bell singled again, driving Escobar in and tying it up at 2-2. Keibert Ruiz walked with two out later in the third, and a mix-up between the Reds’ starter and catcher Tucker Barnhart moved Bell and Ruiz up, before Jordy Mercer walked to load the bases and end Gutierrez’s outing after 56 pitches in 2 ²⁄₃ IP...

Vladimir Gutierrez’s Line: 2.2 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 4 BB, 3 Ks, 56 P, 33 S, 1/3 GO/FO.

Alcides EscOBPar: Alcides Escobar started the night with a 10-game hit streak going, over which he was 18 for 48 (.375 AVG) with five doubles, a home run, eight RBIs, two walks, a stolen base, and seven runs scored over that stretch, and he extended it to 11-straight with a leadoff single in the top of the third, scoring later in the inning on an RBI single by Josh Bell.

Bullpen Action: Reds’ skipper David Bell went to the bullpen for reliever Tony Santillan after the Nationals loaded the bases with two out after back-to-back walks by their starter in the top of the third, but Andrew Stevenson singled to center off the right-hander, and two runs scored to put the Nationals up by two, 4-2.

It was 4-3 in the Nationals’ favor when Santillan returned to the mound in the fourth and gave up a leadoff home run by Lane Thomas on a first-pitch fastball that went out 404 ft and cleared the center field wall, 5-3. No. 7 for Thomas in 2021.

Right-hander Cionel Perez retired the Nationals in order in a 14-pitch fifth.

Mason Thompson inherited a two-on, two-out situation in the bottom of the fifth, after Erick Fedde gave up two runs and threw 33 pitches in the inning before he was lifted. Thompson struck out Kyle Farmer to strand the runners he inherited and keep it tied at 5-5 after five in GABP.

Lucas Sims worked around a leadoff single by Lane Thomas in a scoreless, 19-pitch top of the sixth.

Alberto Baldonado gave up a single by Eugenio Suárez, had a catchable ball off TJ Friedl’s bat fall in for a hit between Andrew Stevenson and Lane Thomas in right-center, and then walked Asdrúbal Cabrera before the Nationals went to the pen for Jhon Romero, who got two outs with the bases loaded without letting a run in. Still 5-5.

Jeff Hoffman came on for the Reds in the top of the seventh, and gave up a one-out homer on a 96 MPH 1-1 fastball to Nats’ catcher Keibert Ruiz, whose third blast of the year, and his second in two days, put the Nationals up by a run, 6-5 after six and a half.

Andres Machado gave up a leadoff walk to Nick Castellanos, and after a groundout moved him up, Kyle Farmer doubled to left-center to drive in the tying run, 6-6.

Michael Lorenzen tossed a scoreless top of the eighth to keep it tied.

Patrick Murphy retired the Reds in order in a 12-pitch, nine-strike bottom of the eight.

Mychal Givens came on in a 6-6 tie in the top of the ninth, and retired the Nationals in order to keep it tied.

Murphy came back out for another inning of work in the bottom of the ninth and struck out Max Schrock before giving up the game-winner, a walk-off home run by Nick Castellanos on an 0-1 fastball up in the zone Castellanos hit a long way to center.

Final Score: 7-6 Reds

Nationals now 64-91