The Cincinnati Reds ended a streak that was nearly two years in the making on Sunday. The club hadn’t won a series in which they lost the first game since the 2023 season but that came to an end against the team with the best record in baseball as the Reds scored six runs in the final two innings to come from behind and defeat the Detroit Tigers 8-4 and pick up the series victory.
| Final | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cincinnati Reds (37-35) | 8 | 11 | 0 |
| Detroit Tigers (46-27) | 4 | 9 | 3 |
| W: Ashcraft (5-4) L: Vest (5-1) | |||
| Statcast | Box Score | Game Thread | |||
Both clubs had early opportunities that they couldn’t do anything with. Detroit was able to get on the board in the bottom of the 3rd inning when Jahmai Jones led off with a home run. The offense had Wade Miley’s back in the top of the 4th. Elly De La Cruz led off with an infield hit and took second when the throw got by the bag. He scored when Tyler Stephenson singled to tie the game up. He would take second on a wild pitch, and then get third on an error. Connor Joe then hit a sacrifice fly to put the Reds up 2-1.
The game didn’t stay there very long. Wenceel Perez hit a 1-out solo home run nearly to the same spot that Jones had homered an inning earlier and tied things up at 2-2. Miley locked in from there and retired the next five hitters to complete his day and keep the game tied up through the 5th inning.
Scott Barlow took over for Cincinnati to begin the 6th inning and worked around a leadoff single to keep the Tigers off of the board. The Reds would threaten in the top of the 7th, getting back-to-back 1-out singles from Gavin Lux and Santiago Espinal, but pinch hitter Spencer Steer grounded into an inning-ending double play.
Graham Ashcraft came out of the bullpen to pitch the 7th for Cincinnati and gave up a leadoff double on a blooper to right field. A failed sacrifice bunt attempt and a strikeout followed, but the Tigers eventually came through. Gleyber Torres hit a grounder between a diving Santiago Espinal and a diving Matt McLain to drive in Baez to make it 3-2. Riley Greene then doubled off of the wall in center to bring in another run and make it 4-2.
The 8th inning saw the Reds get the leadoff runner into scoring position when TJ Friedl grounded one back to the pitcher but Brant Hurter threw the ball by the first baseman for the Tigers third error of the game. Detroit then brought in a right-hander, but Will Vest gave a single to Matt McLain to put runners on the corners for Elly De La Cruz. He came through with an RBI single into right field to make it a 1-run game.
Christian Encarnacion-Strand followed up with a grounder to third base, but a slight bobble by Zach McKinstry led to his throw to second base being too late to get De La Cruz in a force out, and after initially being called out at first base, Encarnacion-Strand was ruled safe after the Reds challenged the play. With the bases loaded, Cincinnati called on Will Benson to come off of the bench to pinch hit and get a lefty-righty match up. After a long at-bat, Benson came through with a sacrifice fly to tie the game up. Gavin Lux also battled against Will Vest and on the 6th pitch of his at-bat he hit a harder grounder into right field to plate the go-ahead run. On the next pitch Vest uncorked a wild pitch that allowed Encarnacion-Strand to score and make it 6-4. The trainer and manager then walked to the mound and Vest exited the game. Santiago Espinal’s bid for a 4-hit day fell short as he ended the inning with a 105 MPH line drive back up the middle that was caught by Gleyber Torres.
Emilio Pagan took the mound to start the 8th inning. He worked around a 2-out walk to hold onto the 2-run lead and send the game to the 9th. Cincinnati tacked on two runs after Matt McLain extended the inning with a 2-out single and Elly De La Cruz followed with 1 r-run opposite field home run.
With a 4-run lead, Tony Santillan headed to the mound to try and close the game out. After retiring the first two batters of the inning, Gleyber Torres singled to keep the game going. But Santillan came back and struck out Riley Greene to end the game.
Key Moment of the Game
The top of the 8th inning where they scored four runs to turn a 2-run deficit into a 2-run lead.
Notes Worth Noting
39 straight series. That’s how many series in a row that the Reds had failed to win after losing the first game of the series. Until today. Cincinnati won a series after losing the 1st game for the first time since June 28th of 2023 when they defeated the Baltimore Orioles.
Elly De La Cruz has homered in four consecutive games. He now has 16 home runs on the season. That’s twice as many as the next highest total on the team (McLain, Friedl both have eight). He remains hot and has hit .361/.452/.778 over his last 20 games dating back to May 24th. His OPS on the year is now up to .850.
Santiago Espinal, along with De La Cruz, had a 3-hit day with an extra-base hit.
Up Next for the Cincinnati Reds
Minnesota Twins vs Cincinnati Reds
Tuesday June 17th, 7:10pm ET
TBA vs Andrew Abbott (6-1, 1.87 ERA)
The post The streak is over! Reds win in Detroit to take the series appeared first on Redleg Nation.