The media were kept out of the clubhouse for 20 minutes after the game, an unusually long period. And when his office door opened, Price met the media in the hallway.
Trainer Paul Lessard and pitching coach Jeff Pico were huddled in Price’s office.
Cingrani, who was lifted after giving up three runs and six hits in four innings, using up 79 pitches, was available to reporters afterward. But Sean Marshall, who gave up four runs (two earned), four hits and a walk in the ninth inning, turning a one-run deficit into a five-run rout, was not in the main clubhouse after the game.
Cingrani gave up two runs and three hits in the top of the first, including a two-run home run to Anthony Rizzo. Cingrani has given up 12 runs this season, seven in the first inning.
And the Cubs? He has faced them six times and the Reds are 2-4 in those starts and Cingrani is 1-2.
“I was just a little fatigued,” said Cingrani. “I was laboring. That was it.”
Of the first inning doldrums, Cingrani said, “I have no idea. That’s just the way it goes. I don’t know. I’m just trying to pitch. I don’t know. I’ll make some minor adjustments and see how it goes.”
Of Cingrani, Price said, “He wasn’t real sharp. His velocity backed down in his last inning. He wanted to go back out and pitch but I felt it was the right decision to get him out of there. It didn’t seem like it was working for him. I didn’t think we should keep running him out there expecting a different result.”
Even the outs he recorded left echoes in the half-empty ballpark.
But it was 3-3 when he left because the Reds scored two in the bottom of the first to tie it, 2-2. Catcher Brayan Price gave the Reds a 3-2 lead in the second with his first home run of the season. But the Cubs tied it 3-3 when Cingrani gave up two hits and a walk, a single by Starlin Castro tying the game.
Nick Christiani gave up two in the fifth for a 5-3 Cubs lead and a run-scoring single by Brandon Phillips in the fifth cut it to 5-4.
And that’s where it stood heading into the ninth, a workable deficit. But Marshall walked Rizzo to open the inning and the clouds fell on Marshall’s head. He gave up a double and two singles for a pair of runs.
Then first baseman Joey Votto booted a hard grounder up the line that led to two more runs, both unearned.
Marshall recently came off the disabled list and was making his fourth appearance of the season.
“The Cubs did some good things against Marshall,” said Price. “They fought off some good pitches and hit a couple of mistakes. They battled against him. He is not in mid-season shape yet. We have to give him some time. You hate to see him have to battle as hard as he did (30 pitches in one inning) to get his outs, but that’s who he is. He’ll find his way.”
The Reds split the two games with the Cubs with one rainout and now face the Milwaukee Brewers, owners of the best record in baseball (20-7) over the next four days.
Losers in four of their last five, the Reds are 7 ½ games behind the Brewers and two games behind second-place St. Louis, with a 1 ½ game lead over fourth-place Pittsburgh.
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