It ended when the likely National League MVP Freddie Freeman drove a walk-off single to center field against Amir Garrett.
It never should have come to that.
Mostly, it was the Reds inability to produce a single productive at bat with runners in scoring position with less than two outs.
—The hint was in the first when the first two reached base. And they didn’t score.
—They had two on with one out in the sixth. And they didn’t score.
—They had two on and one out in the seventh. And they didn’t score.
—They had the bases load with two outs in the 11th. They didn’t score.
—They had two on and nobody out in the 12th. They didn’t score.
—They had the bases loaded with one out in the 13th. They didn’t score.
The voting is finished, so what Bauer did is too late for the balloting, but he pitched at a Cy Young level — 7 1/3 innings, no runs, two hits, no walks, 12 strikeouts.
And he was matched by Atlanta starter Max Fried — seven innings, no runs, six hits, no walks five strikeouts. Bauer was backed by flawless bullpen work by Raisel Iglesias, Lucas Sims and Michael Lorenzen ... until the 13th when Archie Bradley and Garrett buckled in the 13th.
“Somebody told me I had to bring m 'A' game today, so I brought my 'A' game,” said Bauer. “I did my best today and I can’t influence the game tomorrow. Our guys pitched well, every single one of them. You can’t fault the pitching.”
But the hitting, the lack therof, can be faulted.
It was a game of no execution by either offense. The two teams combined for 17 hits and 37 strikeouts, a major league record. In the four-game 1976 World Series, the Reds and New York Yankees combined for 32 strikeouts. The Reds left 13 runners on base.
The 12 scoreless innings established a record for longest postseason game without a run.
While the Reds had 11 hits, the Braves had only six, but three came in the decisive 13th.
Atlanta’s eighth and ninth hitters, Nick Markakis and Austin Riley greeted Archie Bradley with singles. Ronald Acuna Jr., hit into a fielder’s choice, putting runners on third and first with one out.
Manager David Bell elected to pitch to Freeman with left hander Garrett, rather than walk him intentionally, and Freeman lobbed one into center field to end a game that lasted four hours and 39 minutes.
“Our guys take so much pride in coming throuugh in those situations,” said Bell. “It was excellent pitching on both sides. Each and every time we had an opportunity, we thought it was going to happen.”
But it never did, time after time after time after time.
“Our pitching was unbelievable and they gave us every opportunity to win,” he added.
The Reds began the game in attack mode. Three pitches into the game they had runners on third and first with no outs.
Nick Senzel, batting leadoff for only the third time this season, drove Fried’s first pitch to right field for a single and Nick Castellanos dropped the second pitch he saw into center for a single.
Senzel began the series on a 1 for 25 slide and Castellanos hit .185 in September.
The Reds continued their sneak attack approach when Joey Votto hit the first pitch for first base for an out, sending Castellanos to second. That put runners on third and second with one out. Eugenio Suarez lined the first pitch he was directly to shortstop and the threated withered when Mike Moustakas grounded to short.
Two quick hit, no runs.
With one out in the second, Senzel singled on the first pitch again — two pitches, two singles. Castellanos flied to right and Senzel took second on a wild pitch. Votto, though, took a called third strike on a full count.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Bauer went on a five straight strikeout binge until he hit Freeman with a pitch to open the fourth. With two outs, Ablies beat out an infield hit, putting runners on second and first. Bauer struck out Duvall to leave it at 0-0.
Fried retired eight straight until Castellanos beat an infield single to second. Votto singled sharply to left and Castellanos, showing aggression, tried to go from first and third, but left fielder Duvall threw him out. Suarez struck out and the zeros continued to litter the scoreboard.
“I know (Castellanos) got thrown out, but he was aggressive and were trying to do everything we can to score runs,” said Bell. “Geting to third base with less than two outs you have a better opportunity to score. We’ve always believed in that and talk about that. Duvall made a great throw and it was close play.”
Ronald Acuna Jr. started the Braves sixth with a double over center fielder Senzel’s head and Freeman moved him to third with a grounder to the right side.
Bauer limited batters to 3 for 35 during the season with runners in scoring position and continued that trend. With a runner on third and one out, he induced a foul pop-up from Marcell Ozuna, the league’s top RBI producer, and followed that by striking out clean-up hitter Travis D’Arnaud.
A baserunner blunder on a double steal attempt ended the seventh inning for the Reds after they had runners on second and first with one out. After Kyle Farmer grounded out, runners were on third and first with two outs.
Farmer broke for second on a pitch and was hung up between second and first. Aquino broke for home and was chased down for an inning-ending out.
“We might have been a little over-aggressive right there,” said Bell. “Once again, we’re doing everything we can to try to get a run across. It wasn’t the right time and that’s on me, trying to get something on the board.”
Bauer struck out Austin Rley for the second out of the eighth on his 103rd pitch and was finished — no runs, no walks and 12 strikeouts, the first time in post-season history a pitcher gave up no runs while walking none and striking out 12.
And this was against a team that scored 29 runs in one game this year and 348 runs on the year, one shy of the Los Angeles Dodgers, who led the league.
Closer Raisel Iglesias finished the inning by striking out Acuna.
Iglesias was back on the mound for the ninth and quickly put the potential winning run on base by walking Freeman on a full count, the first walk by either team.
And he quickly escaped by striking out Ozuna, d’Arnaud and Albies, sending it into the 10th at 0-0.
Castellanos doubled into the left field corner with two outs in the 11th. The Braves walked Votto intentionally so that right handed side-armer Darren O’Day could face right handed Suarez. It didn’t work. He walked Suarez on a full count to fill the bases.
That forced the Braves to bring in left hander Tyler Matzek to face lefty Mike Moustakis. This moved worked. Matzek struck out Moustakis on three pitches.
Incredibly, the Reds put runners on third and first with no outs in the 12th. . .and didn’t score. Aristides Aquino and Jesse Winker singled, then Matzek struck out Kyle Farmer, Tucker Barnhart and pinch-hitter Freddy Galvis.
The absurdity for the Reds continued in the 13th. One-out singles by Votto and Suarez, plus a walk to Moustakas loaded the bases. Aquino struck out and pinch-hitter Jose Garcia hit into an inning-ending force play on the first pitch he saw.
That set up the inevitable. When a team fritters away opportunity after opportunity after opportunity, a team like the Braves, a player like Freeman, is going to make you pay.
And the Reds paid a debilitating price.
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