Reds blow late lead, get swept by Red Sox in 5-4 loss

The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game

The last home game of the 2017 season went great for the Reds over the first 6 innings, thanks in large part to the effort of Jackson Stephens. He pitched 6 solid innings, giving up only 1 run on 2 hits with 2 walks and 3 strikeouts. He also helped himself out on offense, going 1 for 2 with a run scored. The fact that it came against the Red Sox, one of the best teams in the American League, makes that performance look even better.

Honorable mentions go to: Joey Votto, for going 2 for 4; Scooter Gennett, for going 2 for 4 with a double and 1 RBI; Zack Cozart, for going 2 for 4 with a run scored; and Billy Hamilton, for going 1 for 3 with a triple, a walk, a run, a RBI, and showing us once again why his speed makes him so dangerous.

Key Plays

• The Reds didn’t waste any time getting out in front in this one. In the bottom of the first, Zack Cozart got things started by lining a 1-out single into center. After a Joey Votto strikeout, Scooter Gennett sent a line drive into right for a double to score Cozart. Reds led, 1-0.
• The Red Sox tied the game in the top of the 5th on a solo dinger by Rafael Devers.
• In the bottom of the 5th, the Reds re-took the lead. Adam Duvall reached on a 1-out single to center. After a Tucker Barnhart pop-out, Jackson Stephens singled on a fly ball to center, which then allowed Duvall to score on a throwing error by Mookie Betts. That brought up Billy Hamilton, who tripled to right field, bringing in Stephens. Reds led, 3-1.
• The Reds extended their lead in the top of the 7th thanks once again to Billy Hamilton’s impressive ability on the base paths. After Hamilton drew a 1-out walk, he looked to have been picked off by Brandon Workman on a stolen base attempt. As he started a run-down on the play, a throwing error by Dustin Pedroia allowed Billy to come all the way around to score, giving the Reds a 4-1 lead.
• Unfortunately, everything fell apart for the Reds in the top of the 8th. Michael Lorenzen, who got the final out in 7th inning, started things off by walking Christian Vazquez and giving up a single to Xander Bogaerts to put runners on first and second. The Reds would then bring in Raisel Iglesias to hopefully clean up the mess. Whatever the opposite of cleaning up a mess is happened, instead. After a groundout by Pedroia, he walked Andrew Benintendi to load the bases. Mookie Betts then came up and doubled to center field, scoring all three runners and tying the game at 4-4. After a pop-out by Mitch Moreland, Rafael Devers hit a single to third to score Betts. Red Sox led, 5-4.
• The Reds were unable to get anything going the next 2 innings, falling 5-4 to Boston and completing the sweep.

Tony Graphanino

Other Notes

• As I mentioned above, this was the Reds’ final home game of the season. After losing their last 6 games of their home stand, the Reds finished with a record of 39-42 at Great American Ballpark.
• After taking Monday off for the third straight week, the Reds head to Milwaukee on Tuesday for the final time this season. Deck McGuire will make his first career start in the majors and will face off against Zach Davies. First pitch on Tuesday will be at 7:40 PM ET.
• As many of you know, Bruce Maxwell of the Oakland Athletics became the first player in Major League Baseball to protest racial inequality and police brutality among people of color by kneeling for the national anthem before yesterday’s game. With the president’s comments on Friday, and the reactions from both NFL and NBA players over the weekend, it is nice to finally see someone in MLB to take this stance in a sport that is so diverse across all races. Furthermore, when you consider the current political environment and the issues that people of color continue to face in this country, sticking to sports is no longer an option for a lot of these athletes. I have no clue what the mindset of the Reds’ players is in regards to this issue, but I would hope they would receive the same support from the organization as Maxwell received from the A’s if they decided to take a similar stand.
• Tunes.