CINCINNATI — Defense and pitching. When you have those two working, your odds of winning baseball games greatly increase.
Just ask Reds skipper Terry Francona and his pitchers.
On a blustery and raw April night at Great American Ball Park, the Reds managed to score three in the first and two in the third and held on for a 5-3 win over the Pirates.
The reason they were able to hold on is because the defense made several key plays and the combination of Taylor Rogers, Graham Ashcraft and Emilio Pagan threw four scoreless innings of relief behind starter Brady Singer.
The Reds have made nine errors in 14 games but the naked eye test reveals a much-improved defense, especially up the middle. The Reds haven’t had Tyler Stephenson at their disposal to open the season but they do have Jose Trevino, a 2022 Gold Glove catcher. Matt McLain and Santiago Espinal are showing their skills on a nightly basis at second and Elly De La Cruz continues to make the sensational look routine.
On Friday night, Gavin Lux made his best play as a new left fielder fielding a line drive off the wall in left and throwing a one-hop strike to Espinal at the bag to nail Endy Rodriguez and end the sixth inning.
Before that, Espinal made a pair of great plays behind Singer, including a snag of a Tsung-Che Cheng one-hop bullet to his right for the second out of the fourth. In the fifth, with three runs already in and Singer on the brink, Singer helped his own cause, knocking down a Enmanuel Valdez liner with his glove, allowing Espinal to barehand it and throw out the runner easily to end the inning.
In the eighth, it was Valdez again the victim as his bloop flared to shallow center. But De La Cruz glided 58 feet out and made a routine over-the-shoulder catch for the second out of the inning, helping extend Graham Ashcraft’s outing.
“I mean, there’s been times where we’ve given teams extra opportunities, but also times where we’ve done some really good stuff,” Francona told me. “Nick Martinez made a play that looks like a shortstop (on Wednesday). Elly with the heads up play at short. We care about our defense. We’ve also had a ton of moving parts, which doesn’t help it, but that’s kind of the way it is.
“I think anytime like Espinal kind of bails you out in a lot of different positions, because he catches it everywhere. Encarnacion-Strand, from what I understand, looks way more confident at first they did last year. I didn’t see him a lot last year, but he’s worked hard. (Mike Napoli) has been with him every day out there. And it’s, I think it’s showing.”
The defense has been so active that it makes guys like Spencer Steer, strictly a DH this season so far as he rehabs his right shoulder, want to get back out there fielding his position, be it first base or left field.
“Yeah, can’t wait to get out there and start playing a position,” Steer said. “DH is a little… it’s kind of just weird. You don’t really feel part of the game. Honestly, it’s a different feel. You don’t have that rhythm of running out to defense and leaving your at-bat behind you, and now it’s defensive mode. I don’t really have that, and I’m looking forward to getting that back. And these guys been doing an incredible job playing defense, and pitching has been lights out, too. So when you’re doing those two things really well, you’re gonna be a tough team to beat.”
Then there’s Graham Ashcraft. He’s yet to allow an earned run in six appearances out of the pen. He threw another two scoreless innings Friday night, thanks in part to the aforementioned solid defense behind him. He became the sixth Red since 1900 to not allow an extra-base hit through his first six career relief appearances (Alexis Diaz the last in 2022, 7 games).
“He did the other night,” Francona said of Ashcraft’s effort in 1-0 win in San Francisco on Tuesday. “We try and not to have him be a one-inning reliever. To do it in the seventh and eighth is not an easy thing to do. He’s allowed us to stay away from (Tony) Santillan, which is good. Graham’s growing into a pretty trusted reliever. And again, I know he’s young in that role, but I think his future is very bright.”
Emilio Pagan recorded his third save in as many chances Friday with a 1-2-3 ninth and appreciated the work of Ashcraft from a distance in the left-center field bullpen.
“We were saying in the bullpen, the training wheels are officially off with Graham and the bullpen,” Pagan told me. “He’s gone multiple (innings) I think three times this week. That’s not easy to do at all. And I think, in my opinion, (Friday) was the best his stuff has been, which is a credit to where he’s at physically, how well he’s repeating his delivery. And you can see the confidence is kind of skyrocketing.
“He’s always had this stuff, like he doesn’t need to change the way he’s pitched from the rotation to now in the bullpen, he can get guys out in the first inning, he can get guys out in the seventh, eighth, ninth inning. So you see his confidence and the ability to fill up the zone. I know we had a walk but it was a competitive walk with some really good close misses. The way he’s thrown is an absolute weapon to us, and we’re fortunate to have him.”
Then there’s his own role. Pagan knows he’s keeping the seat warm for Alexis Diaz, who is set to throw again for Triple-A Louisville Saturday before an assessment is made on his hamstring and whether he’s ready to re-join the team. That move, with Pagan, Ashcraft, Barlow and Santillan already in the pen would only deepen the unit.
“When you guys asked me the first time, like, obviously, we’ve got an all star closer and Alexis Diaz, who’s been really good for the last three or four years,” Pagan said after Friday’s win. “I think he’s got one of the highest saved percentages in all the baseball so he’s really good at what he does.
“So, whether it’s give him a night off or while he’s rehabbing and getting better and getting stronger, I’m going to cherish it. So I love the role. I love when I get that opportunity, and so anytime I get a shot at it, I’m going to enjoy it. But it’s going to take all of us and this organization to get where we want to go and where we need to go. This organization is too good to be where we’ve been the last couple years. So I’m excited to what we can do.”
Jeimer Candelario broke an 0-for-15 slump with a two-run homer and Cincinnati turned in a pair of key defensive plays in a 5-3 win over the visiting Pittsburgh Pirates Friday night.
Brady Singer (3-0) won his third straight start to open the season, allowing three runs on two hits while walking three and striking out three in five innings. Taylor Rogers, Graham Ashcraft and Emilio Pagan combined for four scoreless innings of relief, with Pagan pitching the ninth for his third save in as many chances.
Singer entered the game with 25 runs of support over his first two starts, and Friday began in similar fashion, with the Reds scoring three first-inning runs to race out to a 3-0 lead.
The Reds added two more runs in the third when Elly De La Cruz took off for third on a wild pitch from Falter. De La Cruz scored when Endy Rodriguez, who moved from first to catcher because of Joey Bart’s lower back discomfort, threw wildly down the left field line. Spencer Steer scored all the way from first as the ball rattled in the left field corner.
Santiago Espinal, filling in at second for the injured Matt McLain, kept the Pirates hitless with a diving snag of a one-hop smash from Tsung-Che Cheng with one out in the fourth. Espinal reach out to his right and from his knees threw a strike to first to get Cheng by a half-step.
The Pirates finally broke through in the fifth with their first hits and runs in the fifth when Tommy Pham lined an RBI double down the third base line and into the left field corner. Adam Frazier followed with his first homer of the season, a high fly that landed on top of the visitors’ bullpen in right.
In the sixth, Gavin Lux fielded a line drive single by Endy Rodriguez off the wall on one hop and threw a one-hop strike to retire Rodriguez and end the sixth.
Pittsburgh starter and loser Bailey Falter (0-2) struggled all night with command, walking five while allowing five runs – three earned – on three hits over five innings. Falter started the game in rough fashion, walking the first three batters he faced in the first inning.
Falter was on the verge of getting out of that jam with only a run-scoring 5-4-3 double play off the bat of Spencer Steer. But Falter left a 91 MPH fastball over the plate to the struggling Candelario, who drove the pitch deep to the seats in left for his first homer of the season and a 3-0 Cincinnati lead.
Candelario entered the game batting just .140 and snapped an 0-for-15 slump with the two-run long ball.
Pittsburgh shortstop Oneil Cruz missed his second straight game with a left hand injury while Bart came out of the game with lower back discomfort in the second inning after grounding into an inning-ending double play in the first.
