Jake Fraley hit a go-ahead grand slam in the 8th inning to give the fans at Great American Ball Park on Thursday afternoon some life. But that excitement and joy was quickly gone when Seattle hit back-to-back home runs to begin the 9th inning and tie the game up. Two errors in the 10th helped lead to the Mariners scoring four runs and putting the game away as they beat the Cincinnati Reds 11-7 to take the 3-game series.
| Final | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seattle Mariners (10-9) | 11 | 13 | 0 |
| Cincinnati Reds (9-10) | 7 | 10 | 4 |
| W: Legumina (1-0) L: Ashcraft (0-1) |
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| Statcast | Box Score | Game Thread | |||
Elly De La Cruz picked up the Reds first hit with grounder up the middle in the bottom of the 1st inning. He then trotted home when Austin Hays crushed a 388-foot 2-run home run into the seats in right-center.
After getting through the first three innings unscathed, Brady Singer couldn’t do the same in the 4th. He walked Randy Arozarena to start the inning and the old saying that walks will haunt came true as he scored on a game-tying 2-run homer from Luke Raley.
In the 2nd inning the Reds defense dropped two foul balls, but neither wound up harming them. That was not the case in the top of the 5th inning. With runners on 2nd and 3rd with no outs, a soft pop up to shortstop got by Elly De La Cruz for an error that brought in the go-ahead run. Brady Singer would strike out the next batter, but he would then be replaced on the mound by Taylor Rogers. The lefty came on with men on the corners and Seattle brought on pinch hitter and former Red Donovan Solano to get the platoon advantage and it worked out for the Mariners as he hit a sacrifice fly to right field to extend their lead to 4-2.
Cincinnati got their offense moving again in the bottom of the 7th inning. After a ground out began the frame, the Reds sandwiched walks around a Jake Fraley double to load the bases and turn the lineup over. TJ Friedl hit a sacrifice fly to make it a 1-run game as Blake Dunn scored and Fraley moved to third on the play. Matt McLain then stole second base to put two men in scoring position for Santiago Espinal. He didn’t get a chance to swing the bat as he walked on four pitches to load the bases for Elly De La Cruz. He didn’t get a chance to face the struggling Carlos Vargas, though, as Seattle made a pitching change to bring in Trent Thornton. The move worked for the Mariners as De La Cruz struck out looking at a 95 MPH about as middle-middle of a pitch you’re ever going to get.
A run closer, Cincinnati turned the pitching duties over to Tony Santillan to begin the 8th inning. Seattle welcomed the change as they padded their lead. A leadoff single and a 1-out walk were followed up by an RBI double off of the bat of #9 hitter J.P. Crawford that made it a 5-3 ballgame. After Santillan got Julio Rodriguez to pop up on the infield grass, the Reds called on Brent Suter to enter the game and face Jorge Polanco. The Mariners countered by calling on right-hander Mitch Garver to pinch hit with two men in scoring position. Suter won the battle, getting Garver to fly out to left to end the threat.
The Reds didn’t just roll over. After a fly out to start the bottom of the 8th, Gavin Lux singled to try and get a rally going. Jeimer Candelario and Blake Dunn then followed up with walks to load the bases. That led to a meeting on the mound. Whatever they said was not what was executed because Jake Fraley cracked a grand slam on the second pitch of the at-bat to put Cincinnati ahead 7-5.
Holding a newfound lead, the Reds made two changes to begin the 9th inning. Noelvi Marte took over at third base for Gavin Lux and Emilio Pagan took over on the mound to try and pick up the save. Seattle wasn’t going to make it easy as Cal Raleigh led off the inning with his 8th home run of the year, making it a 1-run ballgame. Two pitches later Randy Arozarena tied the game up with a home run of his own. Pagan then retired the next three hitters to send the game to the bottom of the 9th. The Reds went down in order and the game headed to extras.
Cincinnati sent Graham Ashcraft to the mound to face the 8-9-1 hitters. A sacrifice bunt was laid down by Miles Mastrobuoni, but Ashcraft whiffed on fielding it and was charged with an error. J.P. Crawford then picked up an infield single on a shifted defense to bring in the go-ahead run. A force out was followed up by a walk to load the bases with one out. Ashcraft struck out Cal Raleigh for the second out of the inning. He then battled Randy Arozarena for eight pitches, but the Mariners outfielder doubled in two runs to extend the lead to 10-7. A grounder to Elly De La Cruz was bobbled and his throw after a recovery wasn’t in time, leading to another run. It was Cincinnati’s 4th error of the game. In the bottom of the inning the Reds went down in order, dropping the game and the series with an 11-7 loss.
Key Moment of the Game
Randy Arozarena’s 2-run double in the 10th. While Seattle had a 1-run lead at the time, with the free runner at second to start each extra inning a 3-run lead is huge.
Notes Worth Noting
This was a sloppy game all around. Seattle pitchers walked six batters, Reds pitchers walked seven, three baserunners between the two teams were caught stealing, and Cincinnati made four errors on the day.
All of those errors led to five unearned runs against Reds pitchers. There were six total unearned runs, but one was simply because the Mariners free runner to start the 10th scored and that’s always an unearned run and was not due to any of the errors.
TJ Friedl, Elly De La Cruz, Gavin Lux, and Jake Fraley all had multiple hits in the game.
Cincinnati used eight pitchers on the day. Graham Ashcraft got credit for four ground outs (even though he only recorded three outs). The remaining seven Reds pitchers were credited for inducing two ground outs.
Up Next for the Cincinnati Reds
Cincinnati Reds vs Baltimore Orioles
Friday, April 18, 7:05pm ET
Andrew Abbott (1-0, 1.80 ERA) vs TBA
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