TJ Friedl hit two home runs on the night, but that may not have been the biggest story of the game. Starter Hunter Greene had to exit with an injury while warming up for the 4th inning. The Cincinnati Reds held on to their lead after Greene exited the game, picking up a 4-3 win over the Atlanta Braves on Wednesday night.
| Final | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cincinnati Reds (19-19) | 4 | 7 | 0 |
| Atlanta Braves (17-19) | 3 | 6 | 0 |
| W: Suter (1-) L: Holmes (2-3) SV: Pagan (9) | |||
| Statcast | Box Score | Game Thread | |||
Cincinnati wasted little time getting on the scoreboard on Wednesday night in Atlanta as TJ Friedl led off with a home run to give the Reds the lead. Matt McLain and Elly De La Cruz both singled to put runners on the corners. Gavin Lux then hit a chopper to third base that brought McLain in, but De La Cruz rounded the bag at second as he thought about trying to go to third base to beat the fielders who were out of position to the base, but Matt Olson fired the ball back to second base and Atlanta was able to tag him out as he stumbled and tried to retreat to second.
In the top of the 3rd inning it was once again TJ Friedl getting things moving as he clubbed his second home run of the game to extend the lead to 3-0. The Reds added another run on a 2-out single in the top of the 4th inning by Tyler Stephenson that plated Gavin Lux and made it 4-0.
Hunter Greene had been cruising to that point in the game and had six strikeouts. But the Reds ace left the game with the trainer before he was able to throw a pitch in the 4th inning, injuring his groin while warming up. Cincinnati called on Brent Suter to take over at that point and he picked up where Greene had left off and struck out two batters in a perfect frame.
Atlanta would get on the board in the bottom of the 5th inning, though, when Drake Baldwin hit a solo home run with two outs to make it 4-1. Scott Barlow would take over for Suter to begin the 6th inning and the Braves started a rally against him with a one out single and a walk, which ended his day. The Reds brought in Taylor Rogers out of the bullpen and he gave up an RBI single to Matt Olson and then a sacrifice fly off of the bat of Ozzie Albies as the Braves cut the lead down to one run.
Luis Mey and Tony Santillan both got their jobs done as each of them threw a perfect inning with a strikeout to send the game to the 9th inning with Cincinnati still clinging to a 4-3 lead. The Reds went down in order in the top half of the inning and then turned the game over to Emilio Pagan to face the middle of the order. He would strike out Matt Olson to start the inning and then get Ozzie Albies to fly out to left field to end an 8-pitch at-bat. But then Michael Harris II lined a single past a diving Santiago Espinal at third base. Atlanta called on Eddie Rosario to pinch hit for Eli White, but it was Pagan who would win the battle as he struck him out to pick up the save and seal the 4-3 win for the Reds.
Key Moment of the Game
Emilio Pagan striking out Eddie Rosario to end the game with the tying run on the bases.
Notes Worth Noting
Hunter Greene exited the game with a groin injury. The severity of the injury is not known at this point.
TJ Friedl had two home runs in the game. It was the third time in his big league career he has hit two homers in the same game. The first time came back in September of 2022 against the Rockies. Friedl also hit two home runs against the St. Louis Cardinals in August of last season.
The Reds pitching staff had one walk and 13 strikeouts in the game.
Up Next for the Cincinnati Reds
Cincinnati Reds vs Atlanta Braves
Thursday, May 8th, 7:15pm ET
Nick Lodolo (3-3, 3.27 ERA) vs Spencer Schwellenbach (1-3, 3.92 ERA)
The post TJ Friedl’s two home runs lead the Cincinnati Reds to a 4-3 win appeared first on Redleg Nation.