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Braves 5 Reds 4
Eddie Rosario belted an 8th inning tie-breaking home run to centerfield off Buck Farmer to send the Braves past the Reds 5-4 and complete a three game series sweep Wednesday night at Truist Park. It's the first time the Reds have been swept in a regular season series in Atlanta since April of 2014.
The Reds led three times in the game, including taking a 7th inning lead, but the bullpen allowed the tying run in the 7th and the winner in the 8th. They drop to 4-7 on the season, finish 1-5 on the road trip and have dropped 6 of their last 7. It's the sixth loss recorded by the bullpen. The Reds are 1-5 in 1-run games.
Up, down, all around: The Reds were up 2-0 T1, tied 2-2 B2, up 3-2 T3, tied 3-3 B3, up 4-3 T7, tied 4-4 B7.
Late lead: 3-3 in the 7th, Luke Maile delivered a one out single. Stuart Fairchild pinch-hit and worked a walk. Friedl lined a go-ahead 1B, his third hit of the night, to give the Reds a 4-3 lead.
Late tie: Ian Gibaut entered to start the 7th with the Reds up 4-3. He promptly walked Sam Hillard, his first batter. Hillard stole 2nd and scored to tie the game on an Acuna RBI single.
Hunter Greene: 6 IN, 7 H, 3 R, 0 BB, 10 K, 101 pitches/71 strikes. The first four Braves reached in a 2nd inning that included a HBP, a weak 2-run dribbler up the middle. He worked around a Ronald Acuna leadoff double in the 1st inning and a one out Austin Riley 2B in the 5th. He entered the 6th inning at 91 pitches and plowed right through on 10 pitches with two more K's. He retired 12 of the last 13 batters faced after RBI double to Sean Murphy tied the game in the 3rd inning. He entered the night averaging 22.0 pitches per inning. He averaged 16.8 Tuesday (17.5 last season). Per Baseball Savant, he threw four changeups among his 101 pitches. He entered game having thrown one changeup in his 176 pitches on the year
Spencer Strider: 5 IN, 3 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 9 K, 98 pitches/73 strikes. The Reds made him throw 27 pitches in the 1st inning. He threw 75 pitches in the first 3 innings after Kyle Wright threw 75 in three innings Monday night. But he really settled into a groove.
Bullpen: Gibaut 1.0, H, 2 BB, 2 K, R. Buck Farmer 1.0, HR. It was the first HR allowed by Buck Farmer since 4/20/22 at SD (Ha-Seong Kim, solo). His homerless streak of 45.2 innings was the eighth-longest active streak in the Major Leagues.
Early damage: Tyler Stephenson's 2-run single got the Reds on the board in the 1st inning. Jonathan India and Friedl had singled and advanced a base on Jake Fraley's deep flyout. They hit some rockets vs Spencer Strider.
Developing story: It's fun to watch the continuing development of Friedl. He's come a ways from a season ago. He's pesky. Has stopped trying to be something he's not. He's up to .350 on the season.
On the board: Maile recorded his first hit in a Reds uniform with a 7th inning single. He scored the go ahead run.
Cut him down! Maile threw out Acuna Jr. attempting to steal 2nd with nobody out as the go-ahead run in the 8th. Opponents had been 9 for 9 stealing bases.
Daily double: India and Friedl reached back to back in the 1st and 3rd inning.
Will he ever? Will Benson 0-2, 2 K. He's 1 for 20 (.050) 12 K for the season. He did foul off 8 pitches and saw 11 pitches in his 2nd inning AB.
Regression to the mean: Jason Vosler 0 for 4, 3 K..... and 1 for his last 21....down to .167.
Rough: Wil Myers 0-4, although he had an RBI groundout that gave the Reds a 3-2 lead....now at .175.
In a pinch: Fairchild has a 3B, HR and BB as a pinch-hitter this year.