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Zack
Cozart is forced out at second as Detriot shortstop
Ramon Santiago throws to first base completing the double
play after a
Joey Votto ground ball in the fifth inning during a baseball game,
Sunday. The Tigers won 7-6.
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Cincinnati Reds
Reds Chapman
lets one get away
reds.com
CINCINNATI -- A Reds bullpen with the best ERA in the National League
was at manager Dusty Baker’s disposal, as was arguably one of the best
closers around in Aroldis Chapman.
To secure a win on Sunday night, Baker went all-in with his best
relievers in the late innings. Then he watched it all come apart in a
painful 7-6 loss to the Tigers in which Chapman took his second loss in
a row during a four-run Detroit top of the eighth.
“That one hurts big time,” Baker said.
In more ways than one, for sure. The Reds lost two of three in the
series to Detroit. Gone too was sole possession of first place as the
Pirates nuzzled up into a tie atop the NL Central.
None of that seemed possible in the seventh when Reds starter Homer
Bailey was enjoying a strong evening and a 6-2 lead. With two outs,
Bailey gave up Quintin Berry’s blooped single into center field on his
112th pitch of the game. With Miguel Cabrera on deck, Baker lifted
Bailey.
“We decided he shouldn’t face Cabrera with 112 pitches after [Cabrera]
hit him hard a couple of times. He’s a dangerous man,” Baker said.
Bailey felt like he had more in the tank, but didn’t question being
removed.
“It felt like my velocity was still pretty good and I was making some
pitches in that last inning,” Bailey said. “It was Dusty’s decision and
with all the confidence I had in our bullpen, why would you argue with
it? Those guys have been picking us up all year. It’s funny how the
cards fall some days.”
This time, they fell in all the wrong ways for a relief corps that
owned a 2.46 ERA coming in. Jose Arredondo was charged with the task to
secure the third out, but Cabrera was on first base with a walk five
pitches later.
“That was the best matchup we had,” Baker said. “We had two outs and
hoped to get him and start the next inning off with [lefty Sean]
Marshall and then go to our right-handers depending if anyone got on
base or not. You plan and talk about things and sometimes the best
plans don’t work, especially when you don’t have a chance for them to
work with a walk.”
With lefty Prince Fielder due up, Baker countered with Marshall.
Fielder was 6-for-23 with 10 strikeouts lifetime against Marshall, but
that sixth hit was the game-winning, eighth-inning RBI single for
Detroit on Saturday.
Fielder got the best of Marshall again with a lined RBI single to right
field as Berry slid safely just past Devin Mesoraco’s tag at the plate.
Logan Ondrusek finished the inning with a strikeout and was brought
back to begin the top of the eighth with a three-run lead.
Ondrusek walked leadoff batter Ramon Santiago and gave up Gerald
Laird’s blooped single into shallow center field. In a move not yet
seen since he became the closer last month, Chapman was summoned to try
for a six-out save.
“We didn’t want to go two innings with him, but that was the inning of
decision right there after those two guys got on base,” Baker said.
Chapman, who allowed his first earned run of the season for a loss
against the Pirates on Thursday, had pressure increasing quickly. His
first batter, pinch-hitter Brennan Boesch, sharply grounded a single
into right field to load the bases. On a 1-2 pitch, Chapman grazed Matt
Young with a 100-mph fastball that forced home a run.
“It hit my elbow. There were two sounds. That helped me out,” Young
said. “I think it was obvious it was getting by me. That bailed us out.”
The game of inches hurt Cincinnati again when Austin Jackson pulled a
ground-rule double that touched the left-field line, scoring Laird and
pinch-runner Hernan Perez with the tying run. The rally built even more
as Berry drew a four-pitch walk from Chapman.
Following a mound visit from Baker, a wild pitch in the dirt from
Chapman to Cabrera scored Young from third base with Detroit’s go-ahead
run.
“He’s human. He’s not a robot out there just striking everybody out,”
said Mesoraco, who hit a solo homer in the fourth inning.
Not a robot, maybe, but seemingly unbeatable until Thursday. Chapman
had gone 24 appearances and 29 innings without allowing an earned run
and giving up just seven hits with 52 strikeouts. In his last two
appearances, not only has he given up three of his own runs, he’s also
let two inherited runs score after not allowing any of his previous
nine score this season.
Chapman departed the clubhouse before the media was permitted to enter
following the game.
The Reds are now 21-3 this season when leading after seven innings.
“That’s going to happen,” said third baseman Todd Frazier, who had a
four-RBI game. “That’s like a good hitter a lot of times. Seventy
percent of the time they’re going to get out, so they’ll be fine. It
happens.”
Frazier had a broken-bat, two-run single that gave the Reds a 2-0 lead
in the second inning. His two-run homer in the sixth gave his team what
seemed to be airtight four-run lead.
In the three games against Detroit, the Reds scored 14 runs and Frazier
had seven RBIs. None of that mattered in the wee hours Sunday night.
“I’d rather score one RBI and get a win to be honest,” Frazier said.
“Tomorrow is a new day and we’re still in first place; whether we’re
tied or not, we’re the leaders. The off-day [Monday] is going to be
good for us and we’re going to come back strong.”
Read this and other stories at Cincinnati Reds
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