A game salvaged from an otherwise dismal series.
The Cincinnati Reds offense was due, not just because the shutouts had been stacking up at an alarming rate.
They were due for a home run that wasn’t hit 115 mph, for an otherwise deep pop fly to coast over the cozy walls in Great American Ball Park. They were due for finding a hole through the infield, for the opposing defense to throw a ball away, for 400+ foot towers to CF to not be caught by a leaping Luis Robert, Jr.
They finally got that on Thursday afternoon in the series finale against the Chicago White Sox, thank heck.
Elly De La Cruz lifted a 395 foot ball just over the wall in left-center for his 8th dinger of the season, while Matt McLain later added a tater of his own that coasted 406 feet. Will Benson got in on the homer action with a 401 footer that actually bounced out of Robert’s glove at the CF wall, giving the Reds a trio of round trippers on the day as they dispatched the otherwise listless Sox to finally take a game of the series.
Nick Martinez was positively brilliant on the bump, tossing 7 IP of 2 H, 0 ER ball with 3 K and nary a walk as he coasted through an opposing lineup for three times successfully. His efficient 96 pitch outing helped take some of the pressure off a taxed bullpen, too, something the Reds will hopefully be able to lean into as they welcome Terry Francona’s previous club – the Cleveland Guardians – to town tomorrow for yet another big seris in GABP.
For the record, that series starts a stretch of some pretty serious competition for the 21-24 Redlegs. As Joel Luckhaupt made note of on Bluesky earlier, the upcoming 45 games for the Reds will almost exclusively come against high-caliber competition, something the Reds – who entered play today with the lowest opponent win percentage faced in all of baseball so far in 2025 – will have to find a way to overcome.
After today, the Reds next 45 games are against opponents with an average current winning percentage of .548 (89-win season). And that includes the Pirates for 3 games. Take them out and the avg win pct goes to .563 (91 wins). This is gonna be a brutal stretch.
— Joel Luckhaupt (@jluckhaupt.bsky.social) 2025-05-15T14:36:11.396Z
For now, though, we savor one victory over a Chicago club that set the all-time single-season loss record just last year. It at least sets the stage for the possibility of a winning homestand should they find a way to put the brooms to Cleveland all weekend long.