Defensive miscues cost Reds in 6-3 loss to Giants

The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game

Eugenio Suarez has undoubtedly struggled in the first 6-ish weeks of the season. He collected 2 hits on Monday night, including a solo dinger, that helped the Reds slowly get back into the game. Have a trophy to go with your good vibes, and hopefully this can help things start to turn around.

Honorable Mentions are due to: Tyler Naquin, who also went 2 for 4 with a solo dinger; Jesse Winker, who went 2 for 4 with a RBI; and Nick Castellanos, who went 2 for 3 with a walk.

Key Plays

• Reds’ started Sonny Gray got in trouble early tonight. He issued a lead off walk before getting Buster Posey to ground into a fielder’s choice. Back-to-back singles from Mike Yastrzemski and Darin Ruff would then load the bases. That brought up Brandon Crawford, who hit a double play ball to Jonathan India. India bobbled the ball and then forced an ill-advised flip that went over the head of Eugenio Suarez. That would score Posey before the Reds threw out Yastrzemski at the plate. Giants lead, 1-0.
• The Giants would tack onto their lead in the top of the 4th. Brandon Crawford reached on an error for the second time of the evening, this time of the fielding variety by Eugenio Suarez. Wilmer Flores immediately made the Reds pay, as he sent a 2-0 pitch over the wall in right to give the Giants a 3-0 lead.
• San Francisco extended their lead in the top of the 5th, as Mike Yatstrzemski bonked a dong to right center to make it 4-0.
• Same song in the top of the 6th. Solo dinger. Mauricio Dubon. 5-0, Giants.
• The Reds were finally able to get on the board in the bottom of the 7th. After 2 quick outs to start the inning, Tyler Stephenson drew a walk to get things started. After a passed ball allowed him to advance to second, Jesse Winker smacked a line drive to left-center to cut the lead to 5-1.
• Defense hurt the Reds again in the top of the 8th. Darin Ruff led of the inning with a walk. After a Brandon Crawford strikeout, Wilmer Flores smoked a liner down the left field line. When he stretched it to a double, he popped up a little too much on his pop-up slide, allowing the Reds to take advantage of a bad use of the replay system and get the out. Ruff would advance to third on the play. After Austin Slater walked, he forced himself into a rundown and Kyle Farmer, seemingly forgetting about Darin Ruff on third, turned his back to the play and allowed Ruff to score. Giants led, 6-1.
• The Reds got a couple runs back in the bottom of the inning off back-to-back tanks by Tyler Naquin and Eugenio Suarez to cut the lead to 6-3.
• Despite a lead off single by Tyler Stephenson, the Reds were unable to complete the comeback and ultimately fell, 6-3.

Tony Graphanino

Other Notes

• Reds’ starter Sonny Gray did not have his best stuff tonight. It took him 87 pitches to get through 5 innings. In all, he allowed 4 runs (3 earned) on 5 hits with 2 walks and 3 strikeouts.
• Defensive mistakes cost the Reds 3 runs tonight. That seems important.
• The Reds had few answers for Giants’ starter Logan Webb, who shut the Reds out over 6 innings. They did get 6 hits off of Webb, but were never able to take advantage of the base runners.
• The Reds will try to even up the series on Tuesday against an old friend. Anthony DeSclafani (3-1, 2.14 ERA) gets the start for San Francisco, while the Reds will hope that Luis Castillo (1-5, 7.71 ERA) starts to turn things around. First pitch is slated for 6:40 PM EDT.
• Tunes.