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Suarez stayed hot, driving a long, three-run home run two rows deep into the upper deck in left field to give Cincinnati all the runs it would need to shake off being swept by Milwaukee in a three-game series and knock off Miami, 4-1, before a Fireworks Friday crowd of 22,610 at Great American Ball Park.
Adam Duvall followed Suarez’s homer with one of his own and Jose Peraza had two of Cincinnati’s five hits to help Sal Romano pick up his second win of the season, both in his last three starts.
The crowd, also entertained by various Star Wars-related videos, characters and video-board images on May the Fourth, was the largest in Cincinnati in 15 games since March 31 and fell just 689 short of matching the combined crowds from the Reds’ previous two games.
The weekend series, which is scheduled to continue on Saturday with a 7:10 p.m. game matching Reds right-hander Tyler Mahle (2-3) and Miami left-hander Caleb Smith (1-3), features two of the National League’s three last-place teams. The Reds are at the bottom of the Central Division, while the Marlins trail the field in the East.
Romano (2-3) allowed one run on three hits and two walks with two strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings. David Hernandez came in with the bases loaded in the sixth and got Brian Anderson to line out hard to Duvall in left field before coaxing Martin Prado into an inning-ending fly out.
Sinkerball-throwing Jared Hughes faced the minimum six batters over two innings, getting four outs on three ground balls, and Raisel Iglesias pitched the ninth for his fourth save in five opportunities.
Peraza, who went into the game leading National League shortstops with a .294 batting average, led off the first with a ringing double that reached the wall in left field. Alex Blandino walked and, after plate umpire Gerry Davis ruled that Joey Votto didn’t check his swing on strike two, Suarez blasted a 1-2 pitch for his fourth homer of the season and a 3-0 Reds lead.
Suarez, who signed during spring training a seven-year, $66 million contract extension through 2024 with a $15 million club option for 2025 went into the game as the only National League player who’d played at least 10 games to have more runs batted in than games played, according to the Reds.
Duvall, mired in a season-long slump that had him hitting .163 going into the game and 0-for-9 since homering on Sunday in Minneapolis, followed with an opposite-field drive into the netting that serves as a roof for the home team bullpen down the right field line. The homer was Duvall’s team-high fifth of the season.
Romano retired 10 straight Marlin batters, one with a barehand stab of a sharp one-hopper for the second time in his last two home starts, before Lewis Brinson homered to center field with two outs in the fifth inning for Miami’s first run.
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