Kyle Seager homers late off Amir Garrett to lead Mariners past Reds 4-3

The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game

When you hit your first career big league dinger, odds are you’ll get some dap here.

That’s exactly what Brian O’Grady provided tonight, as the slugging Cincinnati Reds IF/OF connected for a mammoth 2-run homer in the Top of the 7th that momentarily turned the tides for the Reds on what had otherwise been a lackluster evening for them against the Seattle Mariners.

Of course, things again went sour for the Reds after that, but whatever.

Congrats on the thump, Brian, and keep on beefin’ them.

Honorable Mentions are due to: Phillip Ervin, Aristides Aquino, and Jose Peraza, who each chipped in with 2 hits - including a triple for Phlerv and a pair of doubles for Peraza; and Trevor Bauer, I guess, who allowed 2 ER in 6.1 IP with a pair of dingeroos surrendered.

Key Plays

• Ervin dumped a well-placed looper deep down the RF line off Seattle starter Justus Sheffield in the Top of the 2nd, as it landed just beyond the outstretched glove of a diving Kyle Lewis. That put him in scoring position for Freddy Galvis, who plated him with an RBI single. Reds led, 1-0.
• Bauer carried a no-hitter into the Top of the 5th. Then, he had a 1-hitter, as rookie Kyle Lewis smoked a solo dinger over the LF wall for his first career hit. Game tied, 1-1.
• Bauer’s 1-hitter became a 2-hitter in the Bottom of the 6th, and it was yet another solo dinger - the 32nd homer surrendered by Bauer this season. This time, it was Dylan Moore with a towering shot over the LF wall, and the Reds trailed, 2-1.
• Austin Adams took over for Sheffield in the Top of the 7th, and that proved large when he issued a walk prior to a meatball to O’Grady, who pummeled it 426 feet for a 2-run blast that put the Reds back in front, 3-2.
• Michael Lorenzen returned to the mound for the Bottom of the 8th after pitching out of an inherited jam in the Bottom of the 7th, but he wasn’t as lucky after the break. His final batter faced was righty Austin Nola, who walked, and that brought in lefty Amir Garrett to face lefty Kyle Seager - who promptly belted a 2-run dinger off a hanging slider to put the Mariners ahead 4-3, which is unfortunately how this one wrapped.

Tony Graphanino

Other Notes

• You stayed up to watch this live, right? Right.
• After hitting lefty against a LHP in 1 PA over the weekend, Tucker Barnhart got the start tonight against a LHP and hit lefty in each of his PAs against Sheffield. Considering the Reds have lefty-mashers as catching options in Curt Casali and Kyle Farmer, that just simply doesn’t make any sense. Perhaps the plan was to use Tucker with Bauer to try to fix Bauer, or something, and Tucker’s miserable .150/.261/.175 line in 46 PA hitting righty against LHP was enough for him to say screw it and try something new.
• Speaking of which, Tucker went hitless in his PA as lefty on lefty. He did later draw a walk against a righty, though.
• It’ll be yet another edition of #LateNightReds on Wednesday, as the Reds and Mariners will again go to work beginning promptly at 10:10 PM ET. Sonny Gray will get the start for the Reds, and he’ll be opposed by promising young Seattle starter Marco Gonzales.
• Tunes.