CINCINNATI — Following a three-inning, 11-run meltdown that led to a disheartening 13-6 loss to the Cubs Friday night, the exasperation was written all over Terry Francona’s face. It would be hard not to feel for the Reds manager right about now.
The Reds manager knew there would be bumps in the road when he returned to managing this year after a one-year hiatus to take care of himself.
The Reds had a lot of potential, young rising stars and some pieces that were added in the offseason to give this team newfound hope for competing in the NL Central.
But on Friday night, Francona and anyone who cheers for the Reds were reminded that this team still has to fix some fundamental flaws and reduce the number of key mistakes they keep making if they’re going to compete with the likes of the Chicago Cubs or St. Louis Cardinals in the division.
The Reds took a 6-2 lead into the seventh Friday, with a chance to jump out in the series against the leaders of the NL Central. Things were going well. The Reds answered Pete Crow-Armstrong’s two-run homer in the fourth with two runs in the fifth. The game had stabilized. Ian Gibaut came on for the seventh. He gave up a one-out single and then the floodgates opened and the Reds’ lead and hope was swept away in a torrential flood of mistakes and missteps.
Matt Shaw hit a grounder to Matt McLain that McLain chose to field and chase Nico Hoerner and apply the tag for the second out instead of flipping to Elly De La Cruz at second or just taking the out at first. Instead, he missed. First and second and one out. Ian Happ followed with a bloop to no-man’s land in left that went off the glove of Santiago Espinal, who was trying to make an over-the-shoulder running grab. It landed in front of Austin Hays.
Then a pair of RBI singles against Tony Santillan, in relief of Gibaut. Then boom. Pete Crow-Armstrong hit a towering fly down the right field line that clipped the foul pole halfway up the mast for a grand slam. Just like that, a 6-4 lead became an 8-6 hole. The Cubs piled on five more runs and the Reds had no answer.
Francona has always kept blinders on his club. Focus on the here and now, repeating the mantra if the little things affect us “we’re not as good as I think we are.” He caught himself mid-sentence Friday postgame and altered the message to the more affirmative.
“I’m trying to tell you that we showed up to win and we didn’t,” Francona said. “Now, we’re gonna have to show up [Saturday]. And if that inning, affects us, we’re not as… No, it won’t.”
It was the third straight loss for a club that has shown signs of hope, like a five-game winning streak and a sweep of the competitive Guardians at Great American Ball Park last weekend. It has also dropped series to last place teams in the White Sox and Pittsburgh.
This is what happens with teams trying to win under a manager who has tons of winning experience from other jobs but is starting over with a new team in his first year. Francona knows full well he has to be patient. He has to live with his ace coming off a groin injury and getting worked over for 37 pitches in the fourth inning. He has to live with Matt McLain not making the right play at a critical point of the game. He has to live with Will Benson not getting down the line on a delayed double steal with two outs in the fifth that resulted in the final out of the inning.
The Cubs, on the other hand, did all the little things that championship contenders do. They were the ones who worked Hunter Greene in the fourth inning after he needed just 46 pitches to get through the first three innings. Nico Hoerner didn’t drive in a run with his pop-up to end the fourth, but it was a 12-pitch at-bat that featured nine consecutive foul balls.
“We were trying to keep him about 75-ish, maybe 80,” Francona said. “Like we weren’t going to send him back out if he was up around 70, 75. The last inning, they made him work, and you could tell he was starting to get tired. So that was going to be his last hitter.”
Chicago’s starting pitcher – Matt Boyd – got out of a three-run first inning when the Reds had their first six batters reach and had the bases loaded with none out. The Reds didn’t add on and it proved costly.
The Cubs made the plays in the field when it seemed like the Reds were cruising. Matt Shaw fielded a hot one-hopper from Jose Trevino that was ticketed for the left field corner and would’ve added to Cincinnati’s 6-2 lead in the fifth.
You start to get the picture. Craig Counsell and Terry Francona are considered two of the best managers in the game. Counsell has yet to reach a World Series as a manager. Francona has been to three and won twice. Counsell has a lineup that is mashing right now. The Reds have a lineup that is inconsistent.
The Cubs are 31-20 and atop the NL Central. The Reds are 25-27 and still searching for their identity.
Another expression Francona has used, whether on a win streak or in a batting slump, is “stick to today” when talking only about that day’s game.
“I just think I’ve always felt like it’s the best way to be the most productive,” Francona told me before Friday’s game. “If you come in with your tail between your legs, I think it’s weird, because I think fans want to see you carry some like remorse or like, some sadness. Believe me, we feel it when it’s not a good (game). But if you feel it into the next game, it turns into two, two turns into three. It doesn’t help.”
Francona was a star baseball player at the University of Arizona and remains a huge Arizona basketball fan.
“I’ve used the analogy when Arizona basketball, when they don’t play good, it stays with me. I’m a fan. But this is our job, and our job is to be the most productive we can be. So the best way to do that is keep it in the present.
“I also understand if you treat this like a fan, you’ll end up being a fan. Don’t really want that,” Francona said.
