Jorge Soler’s late home run dooms Reds in 3-2 loss to Marlins

In the bottom of the 5th, Stuart Fairchild led off the inning by hitting a looping fly ball to right field. Miami Marlins right fielder Jesus Sanchez ended up over-running the ball and couldn’t quite get to it, allowing it to roll to the wall, allowing Fairchild to get to third with ease. However, Faircild also over ran the stop sign and, with some nifty sliding, was able to score on the play to give the Cincinnati Reds a 2-1 lead.

That was the last base runner the Reds would have until Joey Votto drew a walk in the bottom of the 9th. Marlins pitching would retire the next 14 batters, and 15 of the last 16 batters to finish out the game. While frustrating, it wouldn’t have been as big of a deal if the top of the 7th hadn’t happened. With 2 outs in the inning, Buck Farmer hit Nick Fortes with a pitch. That prompted David Bell to bring in Lucas Sims, who was pitching for the third day in a row since 2021, and Jorge Soler took Sims first pitch to the 2nd row in right field to give the Marlins a 3-2 lead.

It was a missed opportunity for the Reds, who benefited from one of Luke Weaver’s better starts of the season. Outside of a rocky 2nd inning where he gave up 3 hits and a run, he was solid tonight. He allowed 1 run on 5 hits with a walk and 6 strikeouts over 4.1 innings of work. Now, the Reds turn to Graham Ashcraft tomorrow afternoon to try and salvage the series. He’ll face off against our old friend Johnny Cueto. First pitch is scheduled for 12:35 PM EDT from Great American Ballpark.

Tony Graphanino

Other Notes

• The offense struggled yet again, as they didn’t have much of an answer for Marlins starter Braxton Garrett. The Reds struck out 8 times on the game and mustered only 1 walk. They collected only 6 hits as well, and none against the Marlins bullpen.
• TJ Friedl came up with another big hit, tying the game in the bottom of the 2nd with a RBI double. He has certainly been a bright spot over the last week.
• Tunes.