The Cincinnati Reds and Minnesota Twins were both benefactors of misplays on defense by the other side, but it was the Reds who got the last laugh. The home team had to rally to come from behind twice in the game, but they held on to pick up a 6-5 win to open up the series as the victory gave them eight in their last 10 games.
| Final | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minnesota Twins (36-36) | 5 | 8 | 0 |
| Cincinnati Reds (38-35) | 6 | 5 | 1 |
| W: Barlow (2-0) L: Stewart (1-1) SV: Pagan (17) | |||
| Statcast | Box Score | Game Thread | |||
In the bottom of the 2nd inning Will Benson connected against David Festa and sent a ball deep to center. Byron Buxton got to the wall and waited before leaping and robbing Benson of a solo home run. Five minutes later Buxton was in the batters box and he connected for a long fly ball to center that was perhaps a foot beyond the reach of a leaping TJ Friedl in center that went for a solo home run to put the Twins up 1-0.
The Reds offense went to work in the bottom of the 4th inning. Will Benson didn’t get robbed this time around as he lined a 2-out, 2-run double into the gap in left-center to put the Reds in the lead. Spencer Steer would strike out to follow, but catcher Ryan Jeffers couldn’t catch the ball cleanly and Steer got to first base safely on the passed ball to extend the inning. After a steal, Jake Fraley had two men in scoring position and cashed in with a 2-run single to make it 4-1.
Andrew Abbott had been cruising for the most part and had gotten the first two batters to ground out in the top of the 6th inning. But on the third grounder of the year Christian Encarnacion-Strand made a high throw to first base for an error that kept the inning going and it turned out to be a key moment because instead of the inning being over the next two batters singled to bring in one run. Then Harrison Bader hit a fly ball to the warning track in right field that Jake Fraley misread, and as he recovered and got to the wall he made a leap and knocked the ball over the wall for a 3-run home run that put the Twins in the lead 5-4.
Jake Fraley started a 2-out rally in the bottom of the inning with a single. Matt McLain followed up with one of his own. TJ Friedl then came through with a 2-run double just beyond the reach of a diving Matt Wallner in right-center that put the Reds back in front by a run.
Scott Barlow and Tony Santillan each kept the Twins off the board in the 7th and 8th innings. That led to Emilio Pagan taking the mound in the top of the 9th looking to seal the win against bottom of the Minnesota lineup. After getting a pop up to start the inning, Pagan walked Harrison Bader. He would rebound to strike out Matt Wallner for the second out of the frame. That turned over the lineup, though, and brought Byron Buxton to the plate and he drew a walk on four pitches. That resulted in Tyler Stephenson making a trip to the mound to talk things over. The conversation was the right one as Pagan took the mound and struck out Christian Vazquez to end the game and seal a 6-5 Reds win.
Key Moment of the Game
The final out of the game as the tying run was stranded at second and the go-ahead run at first.
Notes Worth Noting
While there was only one error logged in the game, the defense was sloppy in this one with multiple mistakes leading to runs that didn’t go down as errors for either team.
Gavin Lux walked three times and Elly De La Cruz walked twice.
Reds pitchers had two walks and 11 strikeouts in the game. Twins pitchers had eight walks and eight strikeouts.
Up Next for the Cincinnati Reds
Minnesota Twins vs Cincinnati Reds
Wednesday June 18th, 7:10pm ET
Bailey Ober (4-3, 4.40 ERA) vs Nick Lodolo (4-5, 3.76 ERA)
The post Reds rally to complete a comeback win over the Twins on Tuesday appeared first on Redleg Nation.