Wade Miley put in 5.2 innings without a punch, but Fernando Tatis Jr. made one of the few mistakes Miley threw all night to give the Padres a 1-0 lead. The Reds’ offensive couldn’t find a way to get anything going against Padres starter Joe Musgrove. The Reds didn’t strike until the 6th inning, but Musgrove had unbalanced the Reds for most of the night and got some help from his defense.
The Reds were at the top of the 9th with two outs 2: 1. The Padres were 32-0 when they took the lead in the 9th inning. Tyler Stephenson quickly fell 0-2 but, as he has done all year long, fought his way back in the at-bat. Stephenson ripped a single in half to tie the game.
Moments later, Jonathan India had his greatest moment as a red. India put the Reds in the lead with a 2-run home run.
The Reds’ heroic comeback was short-lived. David Bell burned through his bullpen in Milwaukee to secure the sweep, and that likely made Lucas Sims and Heath Hembree unavailable. Ryan Hendrix and Amir Garrett each gave up 2 run home runs to lose the game for the Reds.
The Reds are now 3.0 games back in the division as the Cubs won tonight.
Biggest game in the game
According to Fangraph’s WPA stats (win percentage added), the most important move in the game was Jonathan India’s 2-run home run against Mark Melancon with 2 outs in the 9th inning to give the Reds a 4-2 lead. This game increased the Reds’ probability of winning by 48.9% (from 43.2% to 92.1%).
Positive
Wade Miley gave the Reds another great effort: 7.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 5 K. Miley now has a 2.88 ERA / 3.31 FIP in the season.
Jonathan India and Tyler Stephenson further consolidate their names in the NL ROY race. India had 2 hits tonight and raised his wRC + to 116. Stephenson just continues to have incredible at-bats and has mastered the art of fouling hard pitches. Stephenson now has a 121 WRC + in the season.
Art Gallery got Miley in the 8th with runners on the 1st and 2nd and 0 outs from a big jam. Warren beat both Tatis Jr. and Pham on his first appearance with inherited runners.
Joey Votto reached the base three times (2 hits).
Negatives
David Bell seems to be pushing most of the real buttons lately. I didn’t like his decision, Miley with 2 outs in the 7th. The Reds only had 7 outs left and Aristides Aquino was on the bench one swing away from being tied. That decision is likely to be different, however, when Bell has more good helpers. I also didn’t really like his decision to let Kyle Farmer beat in the 9th inning, with the tie run on second base with 1 out. However, I don’t think he made a wrong decision at the end of the 9th. Bell said there were “a couple of guys” not available tonight related to Sims and Hembree and possibly Brach as well. The bigger problem is the Reds don’t have enough quality reliefs to get around. You just need to get Bell more quality options.
Ryan Hendrix now has a 5.68 ERA / 5.37 FIP in the season. He went the leadoff batter on the 9th to two runs. It’s just unforgivable. The bigger problem is that he probably shouldn’t be on the MLB list and working on things at AAA, but sadly, they just don’t have better options.
Amir Garrett somehow looked like he might be coming out lately. It didn’t happen tonight. He now has a 9.31 ERA / 8.07 FIP for the season. I’m just not sure what to do with him. He’s run out of options, so you can’t send him to AAA to sort things out.
Not so random thoughts ……………… ..
Hunter Greene made its first start in AAA. The good news? He hit 104 mph on the gun and hit 8 thugs over 4.0 innings. The bad news? He dropped 4 bombs.
Manny Machado played some crazy shifts tonight. He lunged for a ball and slipped into the right warning lane. He is the Padres’ third baseman.
Despite the defeat, it was a really fun baseball game. It’s nice to see the Reds at games like this and fight to the last battle. The Reds have a good team, they only have flaws. They clearly need more quality workers and a legitimate big league SS. I hope Bob Castellini will allow the front office to take steps to give this team a real chance. They earn it.
Next:
Red at Padres
Friday, 10:10 p.m.
TV: Bally Sports Ohio
Tony Santillan (1.93 ERA) vs Chris Paddack (4.14 ERA)
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