Brent Suter stepped up as an opener for the Reds on Saturday against Cleveland and set the tone with three shutout innings. The bullpen took care of the next six innings and allowed just one run while the offense got home runs from two of their outfielders to help lead Cincinnati to a 4-1 win over the Guardians.
| Final | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cleveland Guardians (25-20) | 1 | 8 | 1 |
| Cincinnati Reds (23-24) | 4 | 9 | 1 |
| W: Mey (1-0) L: Cecconi (0-1) SV: Pagan (11) | |||
| Statcast | Box Score | Game Thread | |||
Brent Suter got the start on the day and he did his job and then some. The lefty kept Cleveland off of the board in the first three innings before turning the game over to Lyon Richardson in the 4th. He tossed a scoreless inning and Slade Cecconi was matching the Reds pitchers inning-for-inning at that point.
The Guardians broke through in the top of the 5th inning when Daniel Schneemann hit a solo home run just out of the reach of Rece Hinds as he climbed the wall to try and bring it back. Fortunately for the Reds, Cecconi continued to match the Reds pitchers and in the bottom of the inning Will Benson took a hanger and drove it well into the seats in right-center to tie the game up.
Cincinnati put together a rally in the bottom of the 6th inning. TJ Friedl led off the inning with a double. Santiago Espinal squared around for a bunt before pulling it back and slapping an RBI single into right field to give the Reds the lead. Austin Hays then came through with a 1-out RBI double off of the wall to make it 3-1.
The home team would tack on another run in the bottom of the 7th inning. Rece Hinds got ahead in the count against former teammate Jakob Junis 3-1 and then he got a fastball that he hit 423 feet to dead center field for his second home run of the season.
Cincinnati relievers Luis Mey, Graham Ashcraft, and Tony Santillan all tossed a shutout inning to get the game to the 9th. That led to Emilio Pagan entering the game to try and pick up the save. He needed just 10 pitches to complete a perfect inning and lock up his 11th save and a 4-1 win.
Key Moment of the Game
The 6th inning that saw Santiago Espinal and Austin Hays both drive in runs in an inning that put the Reds up for good.
Notes Worth Noting
Will Benson has homered in three straight games. Since being recalled from Louisville he’s hit .308/.379/.731 in seven games played.
Cincinnati batters had just one walk and they struck out 15 times. Cleveland hitters didn’t walk at all and struck out six times. The Guardians went 0-1 with runners in scoring position. The Reds went 1-8 in the same situation.
Looking at the box score’s ERA column for the Reds pitchers today is a thing of beauty. The ERA’s for the pitchers are: 1.82 (Suter), 1.54 (Richardson), 1.08 (Mey), 2.35 (Ashcraft), 1.57 (Santillan), and 3.68 (Pagan).
The win gives the series to the Reds and they’ll have a chance to sweep Cleveland on Sunday afternoon.
Up Next for the Cincinnati Reds
Cleveland Guardians vs Cincinnati Reds
Sunday, May 16th, 1:40pm ET
Luis Ortiz (2-4, 4.78 ERA) vs Andrew Abbott (2-0, 2.10 ERA)
The post Reds relievers dominate Cleveland on a bullpen day in a 4-1 win appeared first on Redleg Nation.