CINCINNATI — The Cincinnati Reds entered Wednesday night’s game against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park as the only team in Major League Baseball to have not been swept in a series this season. That stat can be taken in varying degrees of seriousness, but it cannot be denied that the Reds are a tough team to knock out.
Wednesday night was the epitome of a testament to that trait of this Reds team. Trailing 3-0 in the top of the seventh, the Reds lineup had struggled to generate any sort of momentum against a quartet of Red Sox relievers. On a night, and overall day, when the Red Sox were heavily utilizing thier bullpen, the Reds were at 11 straight scoreless innings enetring the top of the seventh Wednesday night. The streak was in serious jeopardy.
That, of course, was until Reds first baseman Christian Encarnacion-Strand delivered the knockout to the Red Sox. His towering 439-foot grand slam over the Green Monster enphatically gave the Reds a 4-3 lead. It was the spark the Reds needed, and they got it from a player who every time he walks to the plate has the ability to smash the ball the way he did over Fenway Park’s iconic left field wall.
“Oh man, it’s an unreal feeling in this ballpark,” Encarnacion-Strand said. “I am happy I got to play here.”
More importantly, Encarnacion-Strand now has two crucial and momentum-swinging hits with the bases loaded for the Reds over the last two weeks. His three-run double with the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh against the New York Yankees tied the game 3-3, and it fired up Jose Trevino when he crossed home plate with the tying run. Wednesday night, it was a towering grand slam that erased a three-run deficit and gave the Reds a lead they would add to in the seventh and eighth innings.
Not to mention, those hits came against the Yankees and the Red Sox. That’s why Encarnacion-Strand is still worth believing in. If he connects on a pitch, he can hammer it out of the ball park. Literally.
It wasn’t just at the plate where the Reds rallied for eight runs across the seventh and eighth innings to flip a 3-0 deficit into an 8-4 win. Right-handed starter Nick Martinez, who threw 112 pitches last Friday night in nearly throwing a no-hitter, came back out for the bottom of the seventh having already given up three runs on Wednesday night. But Martinez, who recently has come into games as a reliever in addition to making his scheduled starts, got two outs to preserve the Reds bullpen usage.
One of those outs came on a great, heads-up defensive play by shortstop Matt McLain (McLain played shortstop Wednesday night while Gavin Luz played second base). Red Sox first baseman Romy Gonzalez doubled off the Green Monster with a long ricochet trickling all the way to short left field. Reds left fielder Austin Hays leaped against the left field wall to try and make the catch, but the ball bounced way away from him. That’s where McLain found himself in the right place at the right time, fielding the ball and firing a perfect strike to Santiago Espinal to throw out Gonzalez at third base.
“It was kind of teetering between a great outing and a disastrous one if the guys didn’t play great defense behind me,” Martinez said. “Encarnion[-Strand]’s big grand slam. It was a bit of a grind.”
Instead of it being 5-4 with the Red Sox having the tying run in scoring position, McLain eradicated the Red Sox from the basepaths and paved the way for the Reds to get through the seventh inning with the lead intact.
For as much as McLain has struggled at the plate overall this season, his defense has been really good, fundamentally sound and sure-handed. That’s why you don’t give up on a player like McLain.
“I think my funnest moment of the whole night was when Hays tried to get that ball and you look up and Friedl and McLain were surrounding it,” Reds manager Terry Francona said. “To me, that is baseball.”
At the plate, on the mound and in the field, the Reds made plays to ensure they weren’t getting swept for the first time this season. When their backs have been against the wall this season, they have responded every time.
The Reds could have been knocked to just one game over .500 at 44-43 Wednesday night. But the “Rally Reds” emphatically flipped the script at Fenway Park, with shades of how they flipped Game 7 of the 1975 World Series, to get back to three games over .500 at 45-42.
“We did some good things,” Francona said. “And then we catch some breaks. But to our credit, we took advantage of it and we got aggressive and did some really good things. Because, face it, that’s a really long day. And when you’re down for most of the day, it’s longer. So that’s going to make that plane ride a heckuva lot better.”
On Deck
The Reds continue their East Coast swing and road trip to America’s historic cities when they head to America’s Birthplace of Philadelphia this Fourth of July weekend for a three-game series. Philadelphia, the reigning National League East Champions, is currently 51-36 and two games up on the New York Mets in the NL East coming into this weekend.
Left-hander Andrew Abbott (7-1, 1.79 ERA) looks to continue his All-Star caliber first half of the season Friday afternoon (1:05 E.T.), and he’ll be followed in the rotation this weekend by fellow left-hander Nick Lodolo (5-5, 3.52 ERA) Saturday (4:05 E.T.) and No. 1 prospect and right-hander Chase Burns (0-1, 13.50 ERA) on Sunday (1:35 E.T.)
The Phillies will counter with left-handers Jesus Luzardo (7-4, 4.06 ERA) on Friday and Ranger Suarez (7-2, 2.00 ERA) on Saturday. Right-hander Zack Wheeler (8-3, 2.27 ERA) will get the ball on Sunday for the Phillies.
All three games will be on FanDuel Sports Network Cincinnati and 700WLW.
