This time, though, it wasn’t the potent Giants. It was the weak and injury-ravaged Pittsburgh Pirates and the Reds held on for a 5-3 victory.
The Pirates put out a lineup card with hitters batting .000, .120, .125, .158, .176 and .198.
It was a Battle for the Bottom as both teams were 5-and-8 and scraping the bottom of the National League Central standings.
And how the Reds scored those five runs was bizarre to the Nth degree.
They did it with one hit.
It was because the Pittsburgh starter was Bailey Falter, and falter he did. He walked the first three Reds batters — TJ Friedl and Blake Dunn on full counts and Elly De La Cruz.
Spencer Steer hit into a 5-4-3 double play as Friedl scored. But with two outs and a runner on first, it appeared Falter would escape his walk on the wild side with only one run.
Jeimer Candelario thought differently. He crushed a home run deep into the left field seats and it was 3-0.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
The third inning was even more bizarre.
There were two outs and Elly De La Cruz was on first base. He stole second. Falter issued his fifth walk, another full count pass, this one to Steer.
De La Cruz, no doubt distracting Falter, broke for third and Falter threw a wild pitch in the dirt. Catcher Endy Rodriguez foolishly still tried to throw out De La Cruz at third and winged his peg in the general direction of Newport, Ky.
Both De La Cruz and Steer scored...two runs, no hits and five total runs on one hit.
Brady Singer, the recipient of 30 runs in games he started, was not as dominant as in his first two starts, struggling early with his command.
He walked the game’s first batter, Enmanuel Valdez and walked Ke’Bryan Hayes with one out in the second, but nothing came of them.
“It was a cold night and tough on both pitchers,” said Reds manager Terry Francona. “They had trouble getting a feel for the ball and it was slick.”
Singer kept the Pirates silent until the fifth. With one out, he issued his third walk. Former Reds outfielder Tommy Pham doubled for a run and Adam Frazier pulled a two-run home run over the right field fence.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
So the Pirates drew to within 5-3, but that’s where it stayed. Singer departed after the fifth inning and the Reds bullpen provided four scoreless innings.
For his five innings, Singer gave up three runs, two hits, walked three and struck out three.
Taylor Rogers pitched a one-hit sixth. Graham Ashcraft pitch a one-hit seven and eighth.
And then it was up to Emilio Pagan to close it, a challenge after in the Reds previous game he gave up a two-run walk-off home run to San Francisco’s Mike Yastrzemski.
If he was thinking about that, it didn’t show. He caught both Rodriguez and Hayes looking at strike three and ended the game on a fly ball to right by Jack Suwinski.
It was a typical offensive night for the Reds...four hits that included Candelario’s home run and harmless singles by Friedl on a drag bunt and Santiago Espinal and Jose Trevino.
And once again, what’s a game without a Reds baserunning gaffe. After Friedl led the fifth with his perfect drag bunt hit, he broke for second too soon on a steal attempt and was thrown out by the first baseman Valdez.
The game was televised by Apple TV+ and the broadcasters made it an Elly De La Cruz Extravaganza.
He appeared on a pre-game show and the interviewer asked him, “Aren’t you glad you don’t have to face Paul Skenes?” She was referring to the National League’s Rookie of the Year last season who won’t pitch during the three-game series.
Said De La Cruz, “I want to face Skenes. I want to face all the best pitchers.”
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Skenes showed his respect when he was interviewed during the game in the Pittsburgh dugout. De La Cruz was on base and he said, “You’ll never double-up De La Cruz.”
De La Cruz doesn’t run. He scurries as if he is 15 minutes late for dinner.
Pittsburgh manager Derek Shelton was asked about De La Cruz and he said, “He is so athletic and he creates a lot of havoc on the bases.”
Most opposing managers must believe that De La Cruz should have a Surgeon General’s warning tattooed on his forehead.
After the game, the Apple broadcast anointed De La Cruz (0 for 3 with a walk, a stolen base and a run scored) as Star of the Game. He did drive one to the center field wall that was caught and made one of his over the shoulder catches with his back to the infield.
Even he was perplexed and said, “You should have Candelario, not me. He hit the big home run.”
When it was mentioned that his black City Connect uniform was dirty, signifying an eventful day, he said, “When I’m on one base, I always think about the next one. I take advantage and I just go.”
And when the interviewer brought up his over-the-shoulder catch and said it looked like a wide receiver, De La Cruz said, “I could be a wide receiver.
“I love going after fly balls,” he added. “I love it. Yeah, I could be a wide receiver.”
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
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