The Cincinnati Reds got a go-ahead grand slam off of the bat of Tyler Stephenson in the bottom of the 1st inning. They never looked back after that as they got strong relief pitching from Nick Martinez and Alexis Diaz to seal the win and guarantee the club a series victory with a chance to complete the sweep on Sunday.
Final | R | H | E |
---|---|---|---|
Los Angeles Angels (9-12) |
5 | 7 | 2 |
Cincinnati Reds (11-9) |
7 | 8 | 0 |
W: Ashcraft (3-1) L: Sandoval (1-3) SV: Diaz (3) | |||
Statcast | Box Score | Game Thread |
The Angels didn’t waste much time on Saturday. Anthony Rendon led off with an infield single, but left the game after reaching 1st base on what appeared to be a hamstring injury. Mike Trout followed up with a single to put two men on. A double from Miguel Sano and a ground out followed to bring in two runs and put Los Angeles up 2-0.
Cincinnati got to work in the bottom of the inning. Spencer Steer singled and advanced to second base on a throwing error. He then came around to score when Stuart Fairchild double. Walks to Jeimer Candelario and Elly De La Cruz loaded the bases and Tyler Stephenson came through, crushing a grand slam down the right field line to put the Reds up 5-2.
Both starters kept things in check for a bit after that. After Graham Ashcraft tossed a scoreless top of the 5th, his teammates got back to work at the plate against Patrick Sandoval. Jonathan India singled on a grounder that magically got by both the third baseman and shortstop and rolled into left field. Spencer Steer walked and Stuart Fairchild then singled in a run to make it 6-2. That led to a pitching change, but Jose Saurez came in and walked Jeimer Candelario to load the bases. He’d rebound with a strikeout, but then walked Elly De La Cruz on four pitches to bring in another Reds run to cap off the inning and make it a 5-run lead for Cincinnati.
The Angels would get both of those runs back in the next inning after a leadoff walk was followed up by a 2-run home run from Miguel Sano off of Graham Ashcraft that made it 7-4. Another walk followed and that was the end of the night for Ashcraft as Nick Martinez was called on to enter the game out of the bullpen. A wild pitch would move the runner to second, he took third on a fly out to center, then he scored on a ground out to cut Cincinnati’s lead to 7-5.
When the Reds came up to the plate in the bottom of the 6th, Jake Fraley came off of the bench to take over for Jonathan India as the team’s designated hitter. That wouldn’t normally be something to note because of how the Reds tend to play matchups, but Fraley was brought in to face a left-handed pitcher. Update: After the game David Bell noted that India wasn’t feeling great as he was trying to play through an illness.
After three shutout innings of relief from Nick Martinez, the Reds called on Alexis Diaz for the 9th inning to try and hold onto their 7-5 lead. He’d made quick work of things, retiring the side in order on 13 pitches to pick up his third save of the season and push the Reds to 11-9 to begin the year.
Key Moment of the Game
Tyler Stephenson’s grand slam in the 1st inning. The Reds took the lead at that point and never gave it back up.
Notes Worth Noting
Spencer Steer picked up three hits and a walk on the night. That pushed his average up to .324 on the season.
Elly De La Cruz walked four times on the night. That’s his first four walk game of his career, including his time in the minor leagues. Here’s a wild stat about 4-walk games for the Reds from Matt Wilkes:
The Reds have already had three different players walk four times in a game this season, all in the last eight days (India, Benson, De La Cruz).
The Reds had zero four-walk games from 2019-2023. Wild.
— Matt Wilkes (@_MattWilkes) April 21, 2024
Up Next for the Cincinnati Reds
Los Angeles Angels vs Cincinnati Reds
Sunday April 21st, 1:40pm ET
Jose Soriano (0-2, 4.80 ERA) vs Frankie Montas (2-2, 4.34 ERA)
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