7-run 6th helps Reds past Cubs, 13-5
In the seventh inning against the Chicago Cubs on Saturday, the sounds of distant fireworks reverberated through Great American Ball Park. They may have been mere echoes from the Cincinnati Reds’ cathartic outburst an inning before.
After managing just one run and five hits over the first two games of the series, the Reds managed seven runs in the sixth inning Saturday for a 13-5 win, their first in six games against the Cubs this season. The Reds managed 14 hits total, their second highest output of the season.
“If you were in the dugout, you would have felt the excitement with the club,” manager Bryan Price said of the breakout inning. “Like maybe an exhale.”
Cincinnati entered the sixth trailing 3-2, having an inning before surrendered its first lead against Chicago in 38 ½ innings, dating back to April 13. They’d managed just eight hits in their previous 23 innings, including going hitless against Jake Arrieta in the series opener. Surely the odds were against regaining the lead again.
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The Reds quashed that concern with three straight hits off Cubs starter John Lackey to start the sixth off, the first a pinch-hit single by Tyler Holt and last a three-run homer to center by Eugenio Suarez.
“It didn’t just provide us with the three runs, the lead and all the good things that happened with it,” Price said. “It ignited the entire bench.”
The inning didn’t end until Holt was at the plate again. In between, every Reds batter but one got on base, with only Brandon Phillips missing out on a line drive back to the mound. Lackey was pulled after a two-out walk to Jay Bruce, only for reliever Trevor Cahill to serve up back-to-back home-run balls to Adam Duvall and Scott Schebler.
Holt teased the crowd hoping for another with a long, hard-hit flyout to left to end the Reds’ first three-homer inning since 2012.
Adam Duvall making left field his own with Cincinnati Reds
Chicago tried to reclaim a little momentum with a two-run seventh, both off reliever Caleb Cotham for his first earned runs of the season. But Cincinnati scored two runs in each of the next two innings – including two-run homer by Joey Votto in the seventh – to make it 13-5.
Votto entered the game hitting just .180 but went 2 for 5 for his first multi-hit game since April 11. He went just 5 for 34 in the intervening 10 games. He’s not jumping on his own bandwagon just yet.
“I’m not quite there yet,” Votto said. “I’ve got a little ways to go yet. I’d probably say that if I was in the middle of doing well also though.”
The offensive breakout gave some much-needed relief to Cincinnati’s pitchers, who have struggled to keep games manageable against the Cubs. The last starter to pitch confidently against Chicago was left-hander Brandon Finnegan, who took a no-hitter into the seventh inning of their first matchup on April 11.
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Even in a blowout, holding the Cubs' offense down seemingly took Herculean effort. Right-hander Dan Straily needed 97 pitches to get through 4 2/3 innings, allowing three runs in the process. That included a solo home run by Addison Russell, the 31st homer against the Reds this year and the 11th hit by a Chicago player.
Straily’s replacement, right-hander Blake Wood, stranded runners in scoring position in each of the next two innings, while Cotham left a batter on third in the seventh before giving up two runs in the eighth. Left-hander Tony Cingrani replaced him with two on and two out and walked Jason Heyward to load the bases before getting Kris Bryant to ground to third, where Suarez made a nice grab on a short hop.
The Reds’ pitchers gave up seven hits and eight walks. For once against the Cubs, their offense did better.
“Those add-on runs make a difference,” Price said. “It really doesn’t matter who you’re playing. When you can take a four-run lead to six or a three-run to four or five, it really makes a difference.”