Reds come back again, defeat Royals 5-4 in extra innings

Holy shit, indeed, Mr. Karcher. The Cincinnati Reds, as they have done all year, managed to come back and find a way to win yet again, defeating the Kansas City Royals in extra innings. on Monday night by a score of 5-4. It was a game that featured everything, and somehow, some way, the Reds were able to pull it out.

The Reds found themselves behind early, as Luke Weaver ran into trouble in the bottom of the 1st. After getting 2 quick outs, a single and a walk would out runners on 1st and 2nd. Michael Massey would then come up and smack a double to right, scoring both runners to give Kansas City an early 2-0 lead. A sacrifice fly by Nick Pratto in the bottom of the 2nd would extend that lead to 3-0. The Reds, as always, would fight back, and they were able to get a run back on a Stuart Fairchild solo dinger to lead off the 3rd.

Both pitchers settled in and neither team could get much going offensively until the 6th inning. That’s when the Reds were finally able to get to Royals starter Zak Grienke and tie the game up. Luke Maile continued his hot streak by leading off with a double. He’d come around to score on a double by TJ Friedl. That would end Grienke’s night and the Royals would turn to Jose Cuas. Cuas got a ground out from Matt McLain that would advance Friedl to 3rd. That would bring up Jonathan India, who singled to left to bring in Friedl and tie the game at 3-3.

The Reds had a couple chances over the next couple innings, but finally broke through and took the lead in the top of the 9th. Tyler Stephenson led off with a single and was lifted for a speedier TJ Hopkins. A walk by Will Benson moved Hopkins to 2nd and a sacrifice bunt would advance both runners. Kevin Newman would pinch hit for Luke Maile and would lift a sacrifice fly to left to score Hopkins and give the Reds a 4-3 lead. Unfortunately, with Buck Farmer pitching in the bottom of the 9th, Royals’ catcher Salvador Perez would come up with 2 outs and destroy a 0-1 pitch to the seats in left to tie the game at 4-4.

The 10th is where things got wild. TJ Friedl was the last out in the 9th so he was the team’s honorary Manfred runner on 2nd. Friedl would advance to 3rd on a ground out by Matt McLain. That brought up Jonathan India, who hit a grounder to 3rd. The Reds were running on contact, and Friedl was initially ruled out at the plate. HOWEVER, as the umpire said, upon review, Friedl’s foot somehow got under Perez, who had trouble catching the ball, and he was ruled safe to give the Reds a 5-4 lead.

With Alexis Diaz unavailable, the Reds brought in Ricky Karcher to get the save in the 10th. Yes, owner of a 9.27 ERA at Triple-A Louisville, making his MLB debut, Ricky Karcher. Karcher had trouble locating his fastball, and generally didn’t know where the ball was going most of the time, but somehow recorded the final 2 outs with runners on 2nd and 3rd to preserve the victory.

Tony Graphanino

[Link to interactive WPA chart and box score, via FanGraphs]

Other Notes

• LOL

• The vibes on this team are just excellent. I mean, just look at how happy the guys are for Ricky Karcher in his post-game interview

• Brandon Williamson (0-0, 5.40 ERA) gets the start tomorrow evening in game 2 of this series. His opponent will be Jordan Lyles (0-10, 6.84 ERA). First pitch is scheduled for 8:10 PM EDT. Go Reds.
• Tunes.