The Reds led the division-leading Cubs by four runs twice, 4-0 after three innings and 6-2 after six innings.
Then the Cubs totally ravaged and savaged the Reds bullpen for 11 runs in the final three innings that led to a staggering 13-6 defeat, 3½ hours of misery for the Reds in front of 30,120 in Great American Ball Park.
Crow-Armstrong clubbed two home runs and a double and drove in six runs. His second home run, his 14th of the year, was a grand slam that glanced off the right field foul pole.
It came during a six-run seventh-inning when the Cubs came from 6-2 behind to take an 8-6 lead and the onslaught continued.
And it all started so swimmingly for the Reds.
It took Cubs starting pitcher Matthew Boyd 37 pitches to get his first out in the first inning. The first five Reds recorded hits and the sixth walked.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
At that point the Reds had three runs home and the bases load with no outs. But with a chance to break the game open, those three runners were left on base when Jose Trevino popped up and Connor Joe hit into a double play.
The Reds made it 4-0 in the third on a leadoff triple by Austin Hays and a wild pitch. Boyd had not given up more than three earned run in his previous 17 starts.
The Reds put their leadoff hitter on base five times, but only two scored.
Hunter Greene made his first start, coming off the injury list after missing two starts and gave up one hit over his first three innings.
But in the fourth he gave up a double to Seiya Suzuki and Crow-Armstrong’s first home run, cutting the Reds lead to 4-2.
After Greene threw only 21 pitches in the first two innings, consistently hitting 100 and 101 miles an hour with his four-seam fastball, the Cubs forced him to make 37 pitches in the fourth.
Nico Hoerner coaxed 12 pitches from him and fouled off nine straight pitches.
“I don’t know what else I could have done with Nico,” said Greene. “I was hitting the corners on both sides of the plate, up and in, down and away. Maybe I should have just thrown him a knuckleball. That at bat obviously kept me from getting into the fifth inning.”
Of his overall performance, Geene said, “I felt good, but I wish I could get that pitch back (Crow-Armstrong’s home run). It was 100 (miles an hour) on the outside part of the plate. I hit my spot and that was just a very good piece of hitting by Pete.
“That’s pretty much the best hitting team in baseball, so I’ll take it,” he added about his four innings of two-run, three-hit outing.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
So Greene was finished after four innings and the Cubs extracted three runs off Ian Gibaut, three off Tony Santillan, three off Brent Suter and two off Luis Mey.
Santillan faced four hitters and didn’t retire any and gave up Crow-Armstrong’s grand slam. Suter gave up a three-run homer to Suzuki in the eighth, his 13th. And Mey gave up a two-run homer to Dansby Swanson in the ninth.
With one out in the seventh and nobody on, the Reds leading 6-2, Hoerner singled. Matt Shaw ground to second baseman Matt McLain. Instead of throwing to second for a force or throwing to first to get Shaw, McLain tried to tag Hoerner, running to second.
Hoerner avoided the tag and everybody was safe. The mayhem commenced from there.
Reds manager Tito Francona asked the umpires if Hoerner ran out of the base line to avoid the tag, to no avail.
“I was just hopin’,” said Francona. “He wasn’t out of the baseline. At that point I was just begging.”
And about McLain trying to tag Hoerner, Francona was asked if he would rather have seen McLain make the throw to second for a force play.
“Probably, yeah,” he said. “Just make sure of one (out).”
Francona also asked for a review on Crow-Armstrong’s grand slam to see if it really struck the foul pole or was foul.
Again Francona was just begging.
“When they called down (from the video room) and said, ‘Just ask them,’ I thought I saw it hit the foul pole, but it can’t hurt (to ask).”
So it was a night when nothing went Cincinnati’s way on their way to a third straight loss, a loss that dropped them 6½ games behind the Cubs in the National League Central.
About Greene, Francona said, “We wanted to keep him about 75-ish (pitches), maybe 80. We weren’t going to send him back out for the fifth if he was near 70 or 75. That last inning they made him work and you could tell he was starting to get tired.”
As is every day modus operandi, Francona spoke quickly about the game and was ready to move on.
“It doesn’t matter how much (the loss) rates on the heart scale, we lost, we didn’t want to, so we gotta quickly regroup and find a way to beat ‘em tomorrow.”
When he asked if the six-run seventh-inning would have any carry-over, Francona got a tad testy and said, “I’m tryin’ to tell you that we showed up to win and we didn’t.
“Now we’re going to have to show up tomorrow... and if that inning affects us tomorrow... no, it won’t.”
NEXT GAME
Who: Cubs at Reds
When: Saturday, May 25, 4:10 p.m.
TV: FanDuel Sports
Radio: 1410-AM, 700-AM
About the Author