On Sunday the Reds found themselves with yet another great opportunity to steal a series against a contending team. And while they jumped out to a nice lead, they ultimately couldn’t hold on and fell by a score of 5-3. It was yet another frustrating loss that has been par for the course for this team in the month of August.
Cincinnati got on the board in the top of the third inning against Arizona rookie starter Mitch Bratt. Elly De La Cruz opened the inning with a double to left field and came around to score when Sal Stewart followed with an RBI single to right. Dane Myers then doubled. And with runners on second and third, Eugenio Suárez came through with a two-run single to left to put the Reds up 3-0.
Andrew Abbott kept Arizona scoreless through the first five innings, but the Diamondbacks got to him in the bottom of the sixth. Corbin Carroll led off with a triple to left and scored on a Gabriel Moreno sacrifice fly, making it 3-1.
And the game turned in the seventh when the wheels began to fall off. Abbott allowed consecutive singles to Tim Tawa and Jordan Lawlar before walking James McCann to load the bases with nobody out. Luis Mey entered in relief, and had been extremely effective in his prior appearances. But in this high leverage situation he came up short.
Lars Nootbaar brought home a run on a fielder’s choice to make it 3-2, and Ildemaro Vargas then delivered a two-run triple to center field, giving Arizona its first lead at 4-3. Vargas subsequently scored on a Carroll sacrifice fly and a four-run inning and put the Diamondbacks ahead 5-3.
Cincinnati made one final push in the ninth as Sal Stewart singled with two outs, and Myers reached on an infield error, bringing the potential tying runs aboard. But Arizona’s Kevin Ginkel ended the threat by striking out Tyler Stephenson, earning his second save.
Suárez accounted for two of Cincinnati’s three RBIs, going 1-for-2 with a walk, as he’s putting together a solid few games, hitting .294 over his last 17 at bats. Sal Stewart had two more hits with an RBI, and he is still on fire in August, hitting .299 with four home runs and 14 runs driven in. Dane Myers had a productive day, going 2-for-4 with a double and a walk and reached base three times.
The loss moved Abbott to 6-9 on the season and he now has a 4.15 ERA with 108 strikeouts over 139.1 innings. He is just 1-4 over his last seven starts with a 4.24 ERA over that span. With the news that Hunter Greene will miss all of 2027, so much of the pressure for the success of Cincinnati’s starting rotation (outside of Chase Burns) will fall on Abbott and Nick Lodolo. Unfortunately, based on what we are seeing in 2026 there are serious questions as to whether they have the ability to answer that call given what is at stake.
And although Mey took it on the chin today, he’s been very good as of late. He’d not allowed an earned run in his previous 10.2 innings pitched, and he accumulated 18 strikeouts against just 7 hits over that span. Though this game may have been a setback for him, he has shown that he deserves the chance to pitch in high leverage situations for this team moving forward. The Reds bullpen overall, though, has had a rough August, with a fifth-worst league ERA of 4.66.
While the Reds scored a blistering 11 runs last night, they managed just three today, all in a single inning. They rank 29th in MLB with a .227 batting average, despite being sixth in baseball with 169 home runs. Their pitching staff ranks 21st with a 4.51 ERA. The loss dropped the Reds to 62-69 in 2026 and they remain in last place in the National League Central.
They now head to San Francisco for a three game series with the Giants, before heading to Wrigley for a set against the Cubs next weekend.
