Cincinnati Reds bullpen blows another one in 7-5 loss to Minnesota Twins

The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game

Fresh of his Jelly of the Month Club membership for winning the National League Rookie of the Month Award, Jonathan India kept right on socking for the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday. His 2-run dinger put the Reds ahead for good, and he doubled earlier in yet another excellent all-around night for the young buck.

He scored twice, bonked in said pair of runs, and continues to look like the kind of player who’ll be impacting games for years and years and years for these Reds.

Unfortunately, the bullpen.

Honorable Mentions are due to: Jesse Winker, who had a pair of hits (including a double-; walked, and donked in a run; Eugenio Suarez, who socked a dinger; Tucker Barnhart, who dingered, too; and Michael Lorenzen, who fired a 1-2-3 IP of relief.

Key Plays

• Some bro named Max and some dude named Brent spanked a pair of doubles off Mahle in the Top of the 3rd, their within-the-confines efforts yielding the game’s opening run.
• The Bottom of the 3rd, however, saw the Reds do some flexing of their own. Outside-the-confines bashes from Suarez and Barnhart came back to back, each netting the Reds a single run to flip the scoreboard. Back to back doubles by Jonathan India and Jesse Winker then followed to put up another run, and the Reds held a 3-1 lead.
• Things were going somewhat swimmingly for Mahle until the Top of the 5th, at which point he allowed a single to an AL pitcher, walked a dude, and served up a meatball that Mitch Garver turned around for a 3-run tater that flipped the scoreboard. Reds trailed, 4-3.
• Shogo Akiyama pinch-hit for Mahle in the Bottom of the 5th, and worked a single into LF off Kenta Maeda as a result. That put a runner on for India, who turned on an inside pitch to lift a 2-run dinger into the LF seats, one that put the Reds ahead again, 5-4.
• Mychal Givens walked his way into trouble in the Top of the 8th, but eventually coaxed Josh Donaldson into a 5-4-3 inning-ending double play. Heath Hembree similarly flirted with disaster in the Top of the 9th, and eventually sealed the deal by surrendering a 3-run tater to Jorge Polanco after walking a pair in front of it. Reds lost, 7-5.

Tony Graphanino

Other Notes

• Jose Barrero socked yet another dinger for AAA Louisville tonight. You can read more about that if someone at Red Reporter Headquarters gets around to writing the Farmers Only for tomorrow morning.
• Speaking of AAA Louisville, Nick Lodolo finally got the call to join the Bats. That means each of the Reds top three prospects are in AAA...
• It was not Tyler Mahle’s best day. His final line: 5.0 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 5 K on 95 pitches.
• Tomorrow is a matinee, with first pitch set for an early 12:35 PM ET seeing as it’s a getaway day for the Twins. Luis Castillo will toe the rubber for the Reds opposite rookie Charlie Barnes of Minnesota.
• Tunes.