The Oakland Athletics visit Cincinnati for the last time being known as the Oakland Athletics. The Reds have lost 3 straight at home. The Reds have been out scored by 26 runs in the last 10 games and are 3-7 in those games. The last series in Great American BallPark the Reds were swept by Kansas City and were out scored 28-3. Oakland is .500 in their last 10 and have a pretty good team ERA at 3.46 in those 10. The Reds team ERA is 6.59 in comparison.
Game 1:
The Reds placed Nick Lodolo and Stuart Fairchild on the IL and have promoted Rece Hinds and Casey Legumina. TJ Friedl would hit a leadoff triple in the 2nd inning, but the Reds would fail for score him on a failed contact play. Jakob Junis would get the start as an opener and would pitch 4 perfect innings to begin the game. In the bottom of the 4th after loading the bases, Ty France would bloop a single into right field, scoring Tyler Stephenson, Reds lead 1-0.
In the top of the 7th, the Athletics would jump ahead of Cincinnati on a 2 run home from by Max Schuemann, A’s lead 2-1. Later in the inning, Lawrence Butler would hit a 2 run home run off Justin Wilson, A’s lead 4-1. In the 8th, Zack Gelof would join the A’s home run party and hit a solo home run to extend the A’s lead to 5-1. Santiago Espinal would draw a bases loaded walk in the 8th to make the score a 5-2 game. In the 9th, Elly De La Cruz would single off Mason Miller, Tyler Stephenson would hit a single to left, Elly would advance to 3rd. TJ Friedl would ground out to 1st scoring Elly. Spencer Steer would single to right center, Stephenson would score, Reds trail 5-4. David Bell would opt to pinch hit for lefty Will Benson against right handed Mason Miller and have right Amed Rosario face Miller. Rosario would strike out and the Reds would fall to the A’s in the opener 5-4.
The injury bug has severely plagued this team in 2024. The Reds only have 1 staring pitcher active on the roster and he has only made 2 career starts in MLB.
BOX SCORE STANDOUTS:
Tyler Stephenson: 3-4
Ty France: 2-5 RBI
Santiago Espinal: 1-3 BB RBI
Winning Pitcher: Michel Otañez (1-0 4.76 ERA)
Losing Pitcher: Tony Santillan (1-2 2.81 ERA)
Save: Mason Miller (22)
Wednesday Starters:
Fernando Cruz(opener)
Osvaldo Bido
Game 2:
All of the A’s runs would come off the home run ball on Tuesday, Wednesday would be more of the same for Oakland. Lawrence Butler would hit a lead off home run for Oakland, A’s jump out early 1-0. Seth Brown would take Sam Moll deep in the 4th, A’s lead 2-0. That was just the 2nd home run Moll has allowed since becoming a Red at the trade deadline in 2023. In the 6th, Brent Rooker would hit a solo home run off Casey Kelly, extending Oakland’s lead to 3-0. A sacrifice fly in the 7th would give the A’s another run, making their lead 4-0 through 7. The Reds would put a late rally together in the 7th, Tyler Stephenson would hit an RBI double, scoring Elly De La Cruz from 1st, Reds cut the lead to 5-1. Santiago Espinal would hit an RBI single, making it a 5-2 game now.
Espinal would score on a single by the next batter, Ty France, Reds trail by just 2. Will Benson would cap off the rally in the 7th, hitting a 3 run home run to give the Reds the lead, 6-5.
The A’s wouldn’t trail for long, however. Seth Brown would hit his 2nd home run of the game, this time a 3 run home run and the A’s lead 8-6. The Reds would have the tying run at bat in the bottom of the 9th, but Mason Miller would strike out Will Benson on a check swing dropped third strike as the Athletics go on to win 8-6 and claim the series.
Fernando Cruz struck out a career high 6 in 3 innings tonight as the opener.
BOX SCORE STANDOUTS:
Tyler Stephenson: 1-4 RBI
Santiago Espinal: 2-4 RBI
Will Benson 1-4 HR (13) 3 RBI
Winning Pitcher: Tyler Ferguson (2-1 3.58 ERA)
Losing Pitcher: Emilio Pagán (3-4 4.55 ERA)
Save: Mason Miller (23)
Thursday Starters:
Julian Aguiar
J.T Ginn
Game 3:
The A’s look for a sweep of the Reds on Thursday evening. Weather will certainly play a factor, game time highs will hover around 91° with high humid and poor air quality. Julian Aguiar gets the start for the Reds vs JT Ginn for Oakland. This will be the final game for the A’s known as the Oakland A’s against the Reds. They will be temporarily moving to Sacramento before moving to Las Vegas.
Top of the 1st, Julian Aguiar would have a rough inning, 26 pitches and 2 runner would score, A’s lead 2-0. The Reds would be retired 1-2-3. In the top of the 2nd, the Reds would get 2 outs on a slick doubles play by Santiago Espinal. Lawrence Butler would take Aguiar to deep right center field, a 2 run home run as the A’s take a 4-0 lead. The Reds would get 1 back in the 3rd on a Will Benson solo home run. A’s lead 4-1.
In the 5th, the Athletics would get 2 more on 2 solo home runs. Lawrence Butler hit his second of the game and JJ Bleday would each go deep, A’s lead 6-1. Tyler Stephenson would extend his hitting streak go 13 games with a solo home run in the 4th, Reds trail 6-2.
The Reds would work the bases loaded in the 5th, Jonathan India would walk with the bases loaded to cut the deficit to 3, then Elly De La Cruz would ground out to first, a runner would score to make it a 2 run game. The rally Reds would get going in the 6th. After loading the bases for the second consecutive inning, Santiago Espinal would walk to bring in a run, but the Reds offense would only get one more run, in part to a spectacular defensive play by JJ Bleday, making a diving catch in the right center gap and gunning down Espinal, the Reds would take the lead 7-6.
The Reds would turn to Alexis Diaz in the 9th. Diaz did not have his stuff working in this one. Barry Bon… I mean Lawrence Butler crushed his 3rd home run of the game, in a 3 run 9th inning. A’s lead 9-7.
The rally Reds would come back again in the 9th. Rece Hinds would walk, Jonathan India would single, Elly De La Cruz would walk, Tyler Stephenson would hit an RBI single to score Hinds, and finally TJ Friedl would hit a single to score India and De La Cruz to give the Reds the walkoff win. Reds win 10-9.
Julian Aguiar struggled tonight. 4 innings, 6 earned runs on 10 hits, 1 walk and 1 strike out. Brandon Leibrandt would make his team debut in relief and pitch admirably. 2.1 innings of 1 hit baseball. The Reds bullpen pitched well outside of Diaz.
BOX SCORE STANDOUTS
Tyler Stephenson: 3-4 HR(18) 2 RBI
Jonathan India: 1-3 BB 2 RBI, R
Will Benson: 1-2 HR(13) BB, RBI
Winning Pitcher: Emilio Pagan
Losing Pitcher: Grant Holman
The Reds play a double header on Friday against the Brewers. Game 1 will be at 12:40 and game 2 will be at 6:40. Nick Martinez is slated to start the opening game against Colin Rea and Rhett Lowder is going to make his Major League Debut on Friday night. The Brewers have yet to announce a starter.
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