Reds lose in walk-off fashion, fall to Royals 3-2

The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game

When Sal Romano came to Spring Training this month, his number one goal was to make the Reds’ rotation on opening day. With the first 4 spots pretty much locked up, he knew he had to perform well to beat out the number of guys eyeing that 5th spot. Today against Kansas City, he took a step in that direction by putting up a strong outing in his second spring appearance. He limited the Royals to only 1 run while scattering 4 hits with 1 walk and 4 strikeouts over 2.2 innings. In a day where offense was lacking, that was enough to earn him his first JNMHSotG. Have a trophy, Sal and keep battling for that spot in the rotation.

Honorable mentions are due to: Phil Ervin for going 2 for 2 with a RBI; Jesse Winker for driving in a run on a sac fly; and Austin Brice, Kyle Crockett, and Kevin Quackenbush for each hurling a scoreless inning in relief.

Key Plays

• The Reds were able to get on the board first this afternoon. Shed Long led off with a single to third and then advanced to second on a throwing error by Cody Asche. Shed then advanced to third on a lineout by Phil Gosselin and scored on a Jesse Winker sacrifice fly. Reds led, 1-0.
• The Royals were able to answer in the bottom of the second. Tyler Collins led off with a walk. After 2 quick strikeouts, singles by Ryan Goins and Cody Asche were able to bring Collins around to score to tie the game at 1.
• The Reds re-gained the lead in the top of the 5th. Scott Schebler led off with a single and then moved to 2nd after a single by Adam Duvall. After a Nick Senzel fly-out moved Schebler to third, Phil Ervin would single to left to bring in Schebler. Reds led, 2-1.
• The Royals answered quickly in the bottom half of the 5th. The Reds brought in LOOGY specialist Oliver Perez, who promptly walked and then hit the first two left-handers he faced. Alcides Escobar then came up and singled on a bunt to third to load the bases. That brought up Salvador Perez, who grounded out to third but brought in Asche to tie the game at 2.
• Things remained scoreless until the bottom of the 9th. With Cody Reed on the mound for the Reds, Chase Vallot lined a double into left to lead things off. He was replaced by Erik Mejia, who moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Brantley Bell. That brought up Humberto Arteaga, who grounded a ball to center to bring in Bell. Royals win, 3-2.

Tony Graphanino

Other Notes

• Nick Senzel made his second appearance of the spring at shortstop today and it sounds like he handled the position change well once again given the circumstances. After charging a little slowly and allowing a runner to reach first, he was able to immediately erase him by starting a 6-4-3 double play on the next batter.
• Speaking of Senzel, MLB Pipeline released their top 30 for each team today and, like he has in all the other publications, Senzel sits at the top for the Reds. They also released their top 10 farm systems in baseball and the Reds sat at number 8 in their rankings, once again showing the depth of our farm system at the moment.
• The Reds will face off tomorrow against the White Sox. Michael Lorenzen will make his second start of the spring and will face off against Reynaldo Lopez for the Southsiders. First pitch is at 3:05 PM EST.
• Tunes.