Every member of the lineup was on base at least once and eight of the nine starters contributed hits to the 10-hit attack.
It was a lot more than Reds starter Brady Singer needed. He retired the first 12 Phillies without incident and pitched six three-hit shutout innings.
For the second straight game, Reds manager Tito Francona slipped Spencer Steer into the No. 2 spot in the batting order, a wise and sage move.
Steer drove in three runs with a two-run double and a sacrifice fly and has seven RBI over his last three games.
And about the bounce back?
“That’s my favorite thing about baseball,” Steer told reporters after the game. “You have a tough loss the day before and the beauty of it is that you get a chance the next day to right the ship and with a new opportunity and a new game to find a way to win like we did today.”
Steer was blasé about batting second, as if it doesn’t matter where he hits as long as he gets to hit somewhere.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
“Just more opportunities to get into the box, really,” he said. “I take pride in getting off to a good start and you get that opportunity in the first inning.”
The first two innings didn’t bode well for the Reds against Phillies left-hander Ranger Suarez. He retired the first six Reds on 12 pitches, 11 strikes.
And it looked like another night of futility against a left-handed pitcher for the Reds, who began the game 15-20 against lefties.
But the bottom of the order got things going and kept things going.
Jose Trevino, the back-up catcher batting eighth, was 2 for 4 with two RBIs and two runs scored. Santiago Espinal, starting his first game in a week in place of Ke’Bryan Hayes and batting ninth, contributed two hits and a walk.
“Espy did a good job and we did some good things up and down the lineup,” said Francona.
With one out in the third, Trevino became Cincinnati’s first base runner with a single. Espinal followed with a single.
And with two outs, Steer drove them both home with a double into the left field corner.
Then Miguel Andujar, Francona’s choice these days as his clean-up hitter, led the third with a home run down the left field line to make it 3-0.
Andujar, a right-handed hitter who turns left-handed pitchers into mush, was acquired to do just that. And his homer was off the left-handed Suarez.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
But Francona has been batting him clean-up against right-handers, too, and he has responded by getting on base 13 times in 27 plate appearances.
Asked if that’s why the Reds acquired him from the Athletics at the trade deadline, Francona said, “You’re not kidding. That’s a difference-maker against a lefty. He has a 1.000 OPS against left-handers and that might be the best in baseball. That’s a big bat to have in the middle of the order.
“We are now situated where we can be more competitive against both sides of pitchers because of the moves that got made,” he added
The Reds put it away in the sixth with three runs, a two-run single by Trevino and Steer’s sacrifice fly.
Meanwhile, Singer was breezing. After retiring the first 12, he gave up a leadoff single to Nick Castellanos, ending his 0 for 21 slide. The ball actually kicked off shortstop Elly De La Cruz’s glove and could have been ruled an error.
Singer got into a mild jam in the sixth when he gave up a two-out single to number nine hitter Rafael Marchan and a double to Trea Turner.
That brought up the ever-dangerous Kyle Schwarber. The score was 3-0 and he could have tied it with his 43rd home run. Singer got him to ground out, the last man he faced.
A 28-minute rain delay hit Great American Ball Park after Schwarber’s out. When play resumed, it rained harder and harder with thunder rumbling and lightning dancing across the skies.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
With two outs and nobody on in the ninth, Bryce Harper crushed a 410-foot home run off Sam Moll, ending the shutout, but Moll struck out Castellanos to end it.
Singer, slinging devastating sliders and sinkers, needed only 71 pitches and 50 were strikes en route to his 10th win against nine losses.
“My mix was really good tonight, going from different sides of the plate,” he said. “I was able to use different pitches on both sides. I was able to command the ball, which was really good and limited the walks (no walks, six strikeouts).”
Graham Ashcraft followed Singer with a 1-2-3 inning (two strikeouts), Brent Suter also went 1-2-3 in the eighth with a strikeout and Moll struck out two in the ninth.
Reds pitchers struck out 11 and did not issue a walk.
The Reds, though, did not gain any ground on the New York Mets in the wild card chase. The Mets routed Atlanta, 13-5, and remain two games ahead of the Reds for the third wild card spot.
After a two-month absence, Hunter Greene returns to the mound Wednesday with a stiff challenge as an opponent —left-hander Christopher Sanchez (11-3, 2.36).
NEXT GAME
Who: Philadelphia at Cincinnati
When: 5:10 p.m.
TV: FanDuel Sports
Radio: 1410-AM, 700-AM
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