Credit: AP
Credit: AP
And Elly De La Cruz got a large dose of what teams are going to do with him with the game on the line.
Intentional walk. Intentional walk. Intentional walk.
With the game on the line three different times Colorado interim manager Warren Schaeffer pointed to first base to put De La Cruz on base with an intentional walk.
And Hays struck out all three times, twice to end an inning with the tying and go-ahead runs on base and the last time to end the game with the tying and winning run on base.
As always, Reds manager Tito Francona stood side-by-side with the forlorn Hays, who the night before had said what a pleasure it was hitting behind De La Cruz.
“Austin Hays had a tough night tonight,” Francona told reporters after the game. “We’ll take him in that situation all the rest of the year, believe me. He hit into the double play and there were some strikeouts (four).”
A tough night is putting it beyond mildly.
The Reds trailed 3-2 in the ninth when Schaeffer brought in Victor Vodnik, owner of one save this season.
Noelvi Marte had homered and doubled, but manager Tito Francona removed him in the eighth and replaced him with Santiago Espinal for defensive efficiency.
But it was Marte’s turn to bat in the ninth but Espinal was the batter. A tactical mistake? Nope. On a 2-and-2 pitch Espinal whacked a double off the left field wall.
So the Reds had the tying run on second with no outs.
TJ Friedl worked the count to 3-and-2 and Vodnik struck him out on a pitch in the dirt. Matt McLain worked the count to 3-and-2 and Vodnik struck him out on a pitch wide of the strike zone.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
It was De La Cruz’s turn. Even though he was the potential winning run, Schaeffer walked him intentionally.
Hays also worked the count to 3-and-2 and also struck out on a pitch out of the strike zone.
Game over, a one-run loss to a team that arrived in Great American Ball Park with a 21-72 record, the worst record after 93 games in MLB history, a team 34 1/2 games out of first place.
It was a team that has blown 28 leads this season and was 9-15 in one-run games and 11-36 on the road.
And the Reds gave it away by going 0 for 11 with runners in scoring position and stranding 11. They had runners on base in every inning but the sixth.
Spoiled was an above-and-beyond effort from Reds starting pitcher Chase Burns. He pitched six innings and gave up two runs, four hits, struck out 10 and walked three.
Unfortunately for him, a Ryan McMahon two-RBI home run in the fourth inning gave the Rockies a 2-1 lead.
All the strikeouts and an 11-pitch at bat by Tyler Freeman in the fourth mounted his pitch count and he was done after 94 pitches after six innings.
“He was throwing the ball extremely aggressively,” said Francona. “He tried a get-me-over curveball the first pitch to McMahon that was elevated. Other than that, he was terrific.
“It’s hard to see in the first three innings and it’s that way for both teams, but with his stuff, it makes it hard,” Francona added. “This kid is learning on the fly. There is so much to like about him.
“We just wish he hadn’t thrown the one breaking ball (to McMahon) and I’m sure he feels the same way. But there is so much to love about this kid.”
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Burns does wish he hadn’t thrown McMahon the breaking pitch.
“It was a big improvement from my last start,” he told reporters after the game. “One mistake that happened, but there was improvement. It’s baseball and I’m trying to improve on every start.”
Marte homered in the third to give Burns a 1-0 lead. Burns, making his fourth major league start, made only two mistakes and it Burn-ed him.
He walked Michael Toglia on a full count to open the fourth and McMahon picked on the next pitch, a hanging curve, and sent it on a 414-foot ride into the right field moon deck. The Rockies led, 2-1.
Colorado starter German Marquez held the Reds to one run, five hits, three walks and he struck out eight in six innings.
But when the Colorado bullpen door swings open, it generally means disaster. And the Reds tied it in the seventh on a leadoff single by Will Benson, a double by Marte and Friedl’s infield grounder that tied it, 2-2.
McLain grounded out, sending Marte to third with two outs. With the go-ahead runner on third, Schaeffer intentionally walked De La Cruz and he promptly stole second.
With runners on third and second, Hays struck out on three pitches.
The Rockies scored what proved to be the decisive run in the eighth against Tony Santillan. He walked Hunter Goodman with one out and Jordan Beck singled. With two outs, McMahon singled off Santillan’s body, filling the bases.
Santillan had two strikes on Brenton Doyle, who was 0 for 3 with two strikeouts. But he spiked a slider in the dirt that scooted past catcher Tyler Stephenson and Goodman scored to make it 3-2.
Santillan struck out Doyle on the next pitch, but the major damage had been done.
And Schaeffer tempted fate for the third time in the ninth with De La Cruz. The third time was not a charm, it was a gold necklace.
NEXT GAME
Who: Colorado at Cincinnati
When: 4:10 p.m.
TV: FanDuel Sports
Radio: 1410-AM, 700-AM
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