Cincinnati’s bats didn’t need to get started in the desert: Jesse Winker smoked a double from the top of the wall near the 413-foot sign in the center-right to start the game.
Winker gave the Reds a 1-0 lead in his second attack, cutting a single field to the left that Barnhart hit. Tyler Naquin smashed a solo homer – his fifth in his first 21 bats this season – to give Cincinnati a 2-0 lead in the fourth. The Reds added two more runs in the fifth and one more in the sixth.
That was around the time Cincinatti’s pen stalled.
“It’s never easy,” said Reds manager David Bell. “Good teams do that. You cancel each other out. “
The Diamondbacks fell to 2-6 for the season and have lost three times in a row. Alex Young (0-2) took the defeat and gave up Barnhart’s goal in the 10th.
Calhoun said the slow start was frustrating but he was pleased with the way the D-Backs struggled to get the Reds to additional innings.
“We’re in a marathon for a week and we all know that,” said Calhoun.
Tyler Mahle started for the Reds, hit six and didn’t give up a hit, but he also walked four and needed 92 spaces to get through four innings. Cionel Perez (1-0) won and was eliminated in ninth place with two rackets.
The D-Backs hosted the fans at Chase Field for the first time since September 29, 2019 – 558 days ago – when they beat the San Diego Padres 1-0 in the season finale. Arizona announced a socially distant crowd of 19,385, which was a sell-off. The stadium can normally hold around 48,000 spectators.
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