DISCORDANT REDS BULLPEN SPOILS WOULD-BE REDS SWEEP - REDS IN DANGER OF LAST PLACE FINISH

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Cincinnati Reds starter Tyler Mahle might well pine for more morning pitching after today’s effort. As the Reds played host to the San Francisco Giants in this week’s Sunday morning baseball gimmick bought and paid for by Peacock, the righty spun together his best stuff of the 2022 season, even carrying a no-hitter deep into the 7th inning before finally exiting after a double off his 104th pitch of the day.

All told, Mahle fired 6.2 IP of scoreless ball, fanning 8 around a trio of walks and a lone plunking to take home the Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game award. In doing so, he exited with a lead after having given the chance to the rest of his teammates to take home not only the day’s victory, but a series sweep of the Giants, too.

Unfortunately, the bullpen.

The combination of Jeff Hoffman and Art Warren combined to get tagged for 6 runs in the Top of the 8th inning to sink the squad, even though the defense behind them wasn’t exactly the kind to write home about. It was a 3-run Evan Longoria blast off Warren that did the biggest of the deeds. And while the Reds rallied as best they could - they plated a pair of runs in the Bottom of the 9th on an Albert Almora homer - the end result was a 6-4 loss that stings a bit more than it otherwise should since the Reds just haven’t held many late leads that they could blow so far this year.

Still, it wraps a fairly impressive series victory over the Giants. As Meatwad famously said, only losing 1 out of 3 ain’t bad, after all.

Tony Graphanino (link)

Other Notes

• 9:35 AM start times out here in Mountain Time simply are not my cup of tea. Today has truly informed me that I much prefer taking my baseball with a cold beer than with coffee.
• Joey Votto doubled in a run. This has been your daily Joey Votto update.
• The Reds will not play tomorrow, which seems like a serious faux pas on the MLB scheduling ledger. They’ll resume play again on Tuesday in Boston against the Beanstockings, with first pitch in the short series opener set for 7:10 PM ET. Luis Castillo will get the bump for the Reds opposite Fozzy Bear.
• Tunes.