Reds walked off by Braves in extra innings

For the second straight day, the Cincinnati Reds found themselves down two runs late in the game. And for the second straight day, the Reds have been able to erase that deficit. Unfortunately, the bullpen wasn’t able to hold on tonight and the Reds were bested in extra innings by the Atlanta Braves in a 5-4 loss.

Not much went on for the first half of the game, as both starting pitchers were able to keep the opposing offenses at bay through the first five innings. Reds’ starter Graham Ashcraft was the first to crack, as the Braves were able to get on the board in the bottom of the 6th. After Ashcraft got Matt Olson to strike out to lead off the inning, Austin Riley would slap a single to right field. That brought up Sean Murphy, who doubled past a diving Spencer Steer to bring in Olson and give Atlanta a 1-0 lead.

Atlanta would add a run in the 7th, and the two teams would trade runs in the 8th, bringing us to a 3-1 Braves lead in the 9th inning. This is where things got interesting. Wil Myers led off the inning with a single. That brought up Stuart Fairchild, who was called on to pinch hit for Jason Vosler. Fairchild connected on a pitch and smoked the ball into left. Jonathan Villar made a hell of a play to keep the ball in the yard, but didn’t come up with the catch, as Fairchild was credited with a run-scoring triple. Spencer Steer was up next, and he tied the game on a fly ball into no-man’s land in right. Alexis Diaz threw a scoreless bottom of the 9th to send the game into extra innings.

Since Jose Barrero was the final out of the 9th inning, he started the 10th on second base. There are worse guys to have on second in that situation, as he was able to use his speed and score on a Jonathan India single to right field to give the Reds their first lead of the night. That was India’s third hit of the evening, and it was enough to earn him tonight’s Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game. The Reds weren’t able to plate another run, and that 4-3 lead was immediately erased in the bottom of the inning, as Sean Murphy smashed the first pitch he saw from Derek Law to give the Braves the 5-4 win.

Other Notes

• Graham Ashcraft was great yet again. He finished with a final line of: 6.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 7 K.
• 3 of the Reds’ 5 losses have seen the Reds leading after 7 innings. Oof.
• Luis Cessa takes the mound for the Reds against the vaunted TBD of the Braves. First pitch is scheduled for 7:20 PM EDT.
• Tunes.