Reds Beat: ‘I’m a big fan of pressure’ In Christian Encarnacion-Strand and Matt McLain, Reds Can Finally See Their True Potential

CINCINNATI — The Reds can now see some light at the end of the tunnel.

Or at least, they can see what their true potential is with close to a fully healthy arsenal of bats at the ready to attack opposing teams.

This was made evident over the weekend when Christian Encarnacion-Strand homered in all three games, just back from the injured list with a strained lower back. Matt McLain, who’s been patiently waiting to rediscover his 2023 form, belted a tie-breaking two-run homer in the seventh Sunday and the Reds completed a three-game sweep with a 4-2 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks at Great American Ball Park.

CES and McLain are critical pieces of the puzzle that the Reds have been struggling to put together over the first 66 games, winning exactly half of them.

Encarnacion-Strand not only showed “silly power” over the weekend as Terry Francona put it upon his return before Friday’s series opener, the first baseman/third baseman also showed agility at third base. Is this finally the answer the Reds have been looking for? Put Encarnacion-Strand in for his right-handed bat and then use Santiago Espinal as a defensive replacement late in games, as was the case Sunday. It played out perfectly.

Encarnacion-Strand looks like a happier man because he’s actually on the field playing.

“It means everything,” Encarnacion-Strand said. “I want to be a contributor to the team, and I always want to be a big help.”

CES is short on words but long on power. And no one inside the Reds clubhouse will argue with either.

“I wasn’t here for it, but I talked to him about he missed last year, and it killed him,” Francona said. “So when he went on the IL this year, he was desperate to play. We kind of had to stay on him, like, ‘Hey, do it right.’ And it was not that he didn’t, but he just so wanted to play. And I think when he actually got and started playing baseball games, even on the rehab, I think he started to enjoy a lot more.”

The bonus for Francona might be the flexibility. CES showed he could play third base very competently over the weekend, starting the final two games at the hot corner. He made a nice ranging play on a pop fly in foul territory near the third base wall and fielded a sharp grounder on Saturday. On Sunday, he made a diving grab to his right of a line drive grounder down the third base line that turned out to be foul. Still, it impressed Francona.

“I know pretty athletic. I’m not sure I’d want to see where that ball ended up, if it was fair, but it was a good, good play,” Francona said.

But at the plate is where CES shows his true gift – power. On Friday in the pouring rain, he hit a pitch on the outside corner out to straightaway center to tie the game in the sixth, just before the rain hit. It turned out to save the game for the Reds, who would’ve lost. On Saturday, he drilled a sinking liner to center to win the game on a pitch at the knees and then in the regular game, he cracked a three-run homer in the first inning, sending the Reds to a 13-1 romp.

Sunday, he took a knuckle-curve that Zac Gallen said wasn’t a bad pitch at all and extended his arms and it jumped out to left for the first run of the day as the Reds rallied from 2-0 down.

“He’s just a strong kid. He went down and got it, I agree,” Francona said.

The Reds are putting a lot on his plate right now and CES is only too happy to respond.

“A lot of baseball is timing. When your timing is off, sometimes you’re gonna hit ground balls to the third baseman or shortstop, but, yeah, just make an adjustment. Try to stay back up the middle. I like the pressure. I’m a big fan of pressure.”

You can see from the smiles on the faces of CES and McLain over the weekend that they’re finally getting to the point where they thought they’d be out of spring training. CES has battled a wrist and hand injury last year and a lower back issue this year while McLain spent last year recovering from left shoulder surgery and has been working hard to regain his form from 2023 when he slashed .293/.357/.507 with 16 home runs.

While his numbers this year are well below that (.187/.283/.318), he is well on pace to pass the home run total with seven already this season in 56 games.

“I think through it all, I’ve just been trying to play the game the right way, go about it, the right way, work hard and play hard, control what I can and knowing it’s going to show up,” McLain said. “Just try and build momentum, small wins each day and carry them over.”

With a three-game sweep, the momentum could be building. They won their first extra-inning game Saturday in six tries because of a clutch homer from CES Friday before the rain and a CES single in the 10th. They won a game Sunday thanks to solo homers from CES and Jose Trevino before McLain’s two-run shot in the seventh.

“I think wins like that (Saturday and Sunday), and just wins in general, you can build that momentum and carry it. But it’s about the process and playing it the right way, and having energy throughout the game, no matter the score, when we do those things, the best version of ourselves show up. So just trying to control we can.”

Encarnacion-Strand slashed .270/.328/.477 with 13 homers in 63 games. If healthy, That projects to 35 homers over the course of a season.

“It’s amazing being healthy and being able to be on the field is, hands down, the best feeling to be able to contribute in a win,” Encarnacion-Strand said.

The toughness carries over to the pitching, which shouldn’t be forgotten. Taylor Rogers pitched a pair of clutch innings Sunday and earned the win with the likes of Emilio Pagan unavailable and the team wanting to stay away from Brent Suter and Ian Gibaut. And then there is starter Brady Singer, who took a line drive off the back of his right arm in the fourth, hitting on the triceps right above the elbow. He stayed in for the fourth and battled through the fifth before begrudgingly coming out.

“He’s sore,” Francona said. ” He got hit kind of on the… tricep, and he politicked to stay in. I give the kid credit. I mean, he wanted to stay in bad. I think if I’d have been younger in my (managerial) days, he might have talked me into it. I just thought, ‘We can’t lose a starting pitcher’ and DJ (pitching coach Derek Johnson) and I talked. It’s the right thing to do. It’s not the easy thing to do because guys are competing, but it’s the right thing to do.”

Francona is getting a glimpse of the roster he thought he was getting to work with when he signed up last October. Add Austin Hays to the list and suddenly, the Reds have a roster that will be harder and harder to pitch around. Eventually he wants to get to a place where he can pencil in Friedl, McLain, De La Cruz, Stephenson, CES, Hays, Steer, Trevino, Benson/Fraley.

“I really don’t think it matters who (is the hero). We get Hays back, that’ll certainly help, and just spreads it out even deeper. And CES, if he’s going to swing and strikes and do what he’s doing, all of sudden it starts to get a little more exciting, for sure,” Francona said.