After starter Tyler Mahle turned over a 7-3 lead, relievers Alexis Diaz, Tony Santillan and Hunter Strickland gave up runs like pennies falling from heaven. Washington scored seven unanswered runs, including three in the ninth off Strickland that broke a 7-7 tie.
Before the bullpen meltdown, it was an exciting afternoon for the Reds. The big blow — the one for show, the one would have sent Reds fans home jabbering about — was Almora’s grand slam home run.
It came in the fifth inning against Washington relief pitcher Jordan Weems when the score was tied, and it sent the Reds to a 7-3 lead and what looked like a victory.
But the big at-bat — not for show, but the most important at bat — was the one enacted by Mike Moustakas preceding Almora’s slam.
The Reds trailed, 3-2, and had the bases loaded with two outs. Moustakas was behind in the count 1-2 when Weems kept pointing to his hat, indicating that the PitchCom gadget wasn’t working.
So the Nationals conferred on the mound and decided to go with old-school hand signals. Moustakas worked the count to 2-2, then fouled off three pitches. He then took ball three and finally, on the 11th pitch, he took ball four. The walk forced in the tying run.
Without that prlonged and adventuresome at bat, Almora never would have come to bat with the opportunity to crush his second career grand slam and give the Reds a four-run lead.
The beneficiary of the Moustakas/Almora heroics was Reds starter Tyler Mahle ... until the bullpen fouled it up like bad spark plugs.
His teammates gave Mahle a 2-0 lead in the first inning against Washington starter Erick Fedde. Nick Senzel opened with a single and Fedde issued two walks. The second walk, with two outs, was to Tyler Stephenson, who was 0 for 15. That forced Fedde to face Kyle Farmer, one of baseball’s hottest hitters right now, and he pulled a two-run single to left field.
Mahle protected that 2-0 lead until the fourth inning. The Nationals scored three times to take a 3-2 lead.
It began with a leadoff home run by Juan Soto, who was splashed all over this game.
In the first inning, when the Reds scored twice, Soto leaped high against the right field wall and pilfered a home run away from Joey Votto.
When Soto came to bat in the fifth inning, after his fourth-inning home run, he fouled off a high-and-inside pitch by Mahle. For some reason, he stared at Mahle. Mahle’s next pitch was over Soto’s head and crashed against the backstop. Soto again stared at Mahle and mouthed some words.
Mahle then struck him out and the two exchanged words as Soto walked to the dugout.
Mahle was out of the game in the seventh when Soto came to bat with two runners on against Diaz. Soto ripped one into the right field seats, a three-run home run to draw the Nationals within 7-6.
It was Soto’s third home run in the last two games and his last eight hits were for extra bases.
The Nationals tied it, 7-7, in the eighth against Santillan on a single by Maikel Franco, who took third on a wild pitch and scored on Lane Thomas’ single.
And with two on and two outs, it was Soto Time again. Soto was 4 for 40 this year with runners in scoring position and hitting .189 against left handers. So Reds manager David Bell brought in lefty Ross Detwiler and he caught Soto looking at strike three to preserve the 7-7 tie.
Kyle Finnegan arrived in the eighth and struck out the side — Moustakas, Almora and Matt Reynolds.
The Nationals scored three two-out runs in the ninth against Strickland. Nelson Cruz and Josh Bell opened with back-to-back singles, putting runners on third and first with no outs.
Strickland nearly escaped when Yadiel Hernandez struck out and Keibert Ruiz line to second for two outs. But Franco singled for a run and No. 9 hitter Luis Garcia singled for two more and a 10-7 advantage.
It wasn’t quite over. Washington closer and former Reds pitcher Tanner Rainey gave up a one-out home run in the bottom of the ninth to Brandon Drury. And Tommy Pham singled, giving the Reds two opportunities to tie it with a home run. Votto flied to shallow left and Stephenson struck out on a full count.
The Nationals have taken two of the first three games in this four-game set and made certain the Reds kept ownership of the worst record in MLB at 18-34 to Washington’s 20-35.
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