The Reds headed over to Chicago for a 3-game series beginning Friday night and will head back to the Queen City with two wins. Victorious in the opening and closing games of the series the Reds move to 4-2 against the Cubs this season and bring their overall record to 24-28. Starting tomorrow Monday, May 27th the Reds welcome Pittsburgh to town for a four-game series with 4th place in the NL Central on the line.
Game 1: Reds Win 6-5
In game one of the series, the Reds pulled off a nice come from behind 6-5 win. The Cubs jumped out to a 4-0 lead through the first 3 innings but then Yasiel Puig unleashed his power bat driving in one run in the 4th followed by a 431 ft 2-run Hr in the 6th to draw the Reds within one. In the 7th the Reds worked some 2-out magic with back to back singles by Votto and Suarez. Jesse Winker would be the unsung hero of the inning as he doubled a 2-1 changeup to score Votto to knot things at 4.
Things would remain tied up until the bottom of the 8th as the Cubs pushed across the go-ahead run which was thought to seal the Reds fate. Steve Cishek entered for the Cubs and things did not go his way on the mound as Votto walked to begin the inning. Suarez was next to the dish and on the first pitch, he has seen he sent a home-run 445 ft over the center field wall to give the Reds the lead. Iglesias would enter in the bottom half and provide one of his better outings of the year for the save.
Game 2: Reds Fall to Cubs 8-6
Game two of the series went quite the opposite as the Reds were the team to jump out to an early lead. Tucker Barnhart homered in the 2nd to provide the Reds with an early 2-0 lead. The Cubs, however, would score the next 5 runs of the game which included homers from Almora Jr. in the 2nd and Addison Russell in the 4th. Leading 5-2 heading to the 5th the Cubs looked comfortable until Yu Darvish surrendered 2 runs in the inning. Puig hit his 2nd HR of the series to draw the Reds within one at 5-4.
Tyler Mahle stayed in the game as the 5th inning started which started with a bang as Jason Heyward sent a 1-0 fastball over the center field wall to extend the lead back to two. The Reds, however, continued to show their grittiness as in the 6th Senzel knocked in Barnhart to make it a one-run game once again at 6-5. The score would remain there until the 8th inning when Derek Dietrich homered to tie things up at 6. However, in the bottom half of the inning, Jared Hughes would take over on the mound and surrender the go-ahead and eventual winning runs to the Cubs. David Bote knocked in run 7 while Kyle Schwarber followed with a sac-fly to make it 8-6 Chicago.
Game 3: Reds Win 10-2 and Take the Series
Series tied 1-1 led to a rubber match Sunday as everyone across the United States awaited Memorial Day. The first two games of the series were back and forth phenomenal baseball games, game three however not so much. The Reds dominated from the get-go scoring the first 7 runs of the game. Tanner Roark pitched 5 innings of 6 hit shutout baseball and the Reds bats stayed hot. The first 3 batters of the game reached base which resulted in a Eugenio Suarez RBI to take an early lead. Suarez added RBI number 2 of the day in the 3rd on a sac-fly that scored Senzel.
It wasn’t until the top of the 6th that the picture got clearer for baseball fans. Cincinnati pushed across 4 runs on only 2 hits and 1 Cubs error in the inning. Kyle Farmer doubled in Winker to make it 4-0. A wild pitch, sac-fly, and error would allow the Reds to end the inning up 7-0. Chicago would get on the scoreboard with a Wilson Contreras Hr in the bottom half. Suarez wasn’t done for the day as he added a 3rd RBI as he drove in Senzel once again in the 8th to make it 8-1 Reds. Jared Hughes stayed on for the 8th inning and gave up a Hr to Baez but that would be all the Cubs could muster. Curt Casali provided a little more firepower as he got the Reds to double digits with a 2-run Hr in the 9th. Final score 10-2 REDS.
Up Next….Pittsburgh
Three games, 22 runs, and 2 wins for the Reds. Cincinnati claimed their 2nd series win over Chicago and will head home to face the Pittsburgh Pirates for four games. Monday will be a doubleheader with the first pitch of game 1 slated for 1:10 pm. Luis Castillo will put his 2.38 ERA to test in game 1 of the series. The Reds only trail the Pirates by two games in the divisional standings but have a miserable 1-5 record so far this season against them. It’s always nice to take a series over the Cubs, hopefully, this is a turning point for the Reds. #ATOBTTR
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