Trying to win game two of the series against the Brew crew, the Reds turn to deadline addition Zach Littell. The Brewers countered with 11-2 Quinn Priester. It was a great start for Littell, striking out 2 of the first 3 on just 11 pitches. Priester however matched Littell’s start by retiring the first 3 Reds on just 8 pitches.
1-0 Milwaukee
The second inning should have been similar to the first for Littell, but he was plagued by poor defense for a second night in a row. After retiring the first 2, Littell allowed a single to Caleb Durbin. Brice Turang hit a ball to RF that Noelvi Marte should have caught, but instead it got over his head on a bad read and Durbin came all the way around from first to score. Steward Berroa hit a ball to Spencer Steer that he was able to knock down but couldn’t make the play to get an out. Luckily for the Reds, Littell was able to get Brandon Lockridge to groundout to strand 2 early runners. Another 1-2-3 inning from the Reds on just 11 pitches left the score at 1-0 Milwaukee after two.
After a couple of un-noteworthy innings, TJ Friedl finally ended the streak from the Brewer pitching staff of 32 straight retired with a single to CF to lead off the bottom of the 4th. Steer would then of course ground into a double play to erase both men. Elly De La Cruz singled to LF, Andujar followed by singling to RF, but both men were left on a Gavin Lux groundout to Priester. After 4 innings the score was still 1-0 Milwaukee.
Marte was able to redeem himself in RF with a couple nice plays to give Littell his third 1-2-3 inning. He was then robbed by Joey Ortiz on a ground ball up the middle for the first out of the bottom of the 5th. Matt McLain does what he’s been doing best recently and struckout, followed by Jose Trevino doing the same. The score remained 1-0 Milwaukee after 5.
2-1 Cincinnati
The Reds bats, after 12 2/3 straight scoreless innings, finally came to life. Ke’Bryan Hayes hit his second homer as a Red to tie the game 1-1. Friedl gave the first pitch he saw a ride but it came up a few feet short of the wall in CF. Steer then followed that up by hitting a pitch in at his hands to LF for another solo shot. Elly drew a four pitch walked and Andujar singled to put runners on first and third with one out. Tito went to his bench, pinch hitting Austin Hays for Gavin Lux to face Aaron Ashby out of the Milwaukee bullpen. Ashby got both Hays and Marte to strikeout, but Cincinnati went to the 6th leading 2-1.
These pesky Brewers didn’t give the Reds any time to breath. Durbin doubled to LF and with it chased Zach Littell from the ballgame. Graham Ashcraft was summoned to get out of the jam and he got Turang to strikeout. He walked Tyler Black, struckout Lockridge, threw a wild pitch to put 2 men in scoring position and it looked bleak. However, Ashcraft got Sal Frelick to ground out to 2B to keep the score 2-1 Cincy.
Big Tony Santillan came in to pitch the 8th, and to say he had very little control over his pitches might be an understatement. He walked the first two men he saw before getting Christian Yelich to strikeout. After a flyout to CF, Durbin tried to catch the Reds sleeping but Hayes wasn’t about to let that happen. He made the defensive play of the game, barehanding the ball and getting Durbin by half a step. Unfortunately Cincinnati was unable to get anything offensively and went to the ninth clinging to a 2-1 lead.
2-2 Tie
Would it be a proper big game if it didn’t come down to the ninth? Emilio Pagan came in, looking to lockdown his 26th save. And boy he sure gave all the fans at GABP a little heart attack by walking the first two men he faced. He got Lockridge to pop up to 1B, and had got a double play ball off the bat of Frelick. But Elly threw the ball low to 1st and the lead runner came around to score, tying the game at 2. Pagan eventually got the third out via strikeout and the Reds came up looking to walkoff the Brewers. The Reds were unable to take advantage of a 2 out single by Noelvi Marte and head to the 10th tied.
3-2 Milwaukee
Against a talented team like Milwaukee you can’t beat yourself. And that’s what the Reds did in the top of the 10th. The first pitch from Scott Barlow to William Contreras was hit to left and Jake Fraley, who came in defensively, misplayed the ball then tripped, allowing the free runner to score from second. They then intentionally walked Yelich and got Andrew Vaughn to GIDP. Durbin grounded out to short and the Reds now needed at least a run to keep this game going.
3-3 Tie
And keep it going they did. Jose Trevino struck out, but deadline acquisition Ke’Bryan Hayes drove an 0-2 pitch from Brewer closer Trevor Megill to RF which Frelick proceeded to accidentally kick the ball over the fence for a ground rule double. McLain, the free runner, came around to score and tie the game at 3. A little later in the inning, with runners on 1st and 2nd, Elly came up with a chance to win it but was unable to and struckout. To the 11th we go…
6-3 Milwaukee
And we most likely won’t see a 12th. Turang bunt singled to put runners on 1st and 3rd before Andrew Monasterio hit a no-doubt HR to left. It was a hanging changeup right down the middle from recent AAA call-up Joe La Sorsa and Monasterio didn’t miss it. La Sorsa was able to get out of the rest of the inning unscathed but the damage was done.
6-5 Milwaukee
Down three, three outs to play with, Elly starting on 2B. Andujar flew out, advancing Elly to 3B. Santiago Espinal then drove Elly in with a sac fly to CF. Down two, one out to play with, bases empty. Marte came up and hit a middle middle slider to LF, bringing the score to 6-5. That left it up to McLain, and for the first time tonight he didn’t strikeout. In fact, he hit the ball very well, but not well enough to drive it out to CF and tie it up.
Just like that, Milwaukee took the series, won their franchise record 14th straight game and perhaps delivered a crushing blow to the Reds playoff chances. Sure it’s just 1 game out of 162, but this game tonight, after what happened last night, hurts bad. The Reds had a chance to win many times and just could not come through. But you know we’ll be back tomorrow afternoon to see how they break our hearts next.
