PHOENIX – When the Cincinnati Reds moved Eugenio Suárez to shortstop, and shuffled other spots in the infield, they gambled that the boost to their lineup would outweigh their defensive limitations.
For the first time all season, the Reds’ offense had an off night. It put a bigger spotlight on their pitching and defense, and things snowballed in a five-run fifth inning.
It all added up to an 8-3 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Saturday at Chase Field, snapping the Reds’ six-game winning streak. It was the first time that they failed to score at least five runs, though they still hold the franchise record for most runs through the first eight games of the season (66).
"The idea is to just keep hitting the ball hard," Reds manager David Bell said. "If we continue to do that, good things will happen."
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During the decisive fifth inning, the Diamondbacks had three batters reach base on groundballs that didn’t make it out of the infield. Tim Locastro, who had a four-hit game, opened the inning with a single to center.
Following a pop-out, Christian Walker hit a two-hopper into the hole at shortstop. Suárez fielded it cleanly on his backhand, but his one-hop throw to second base was too slow to beat the speedy Locastro. That was the last batter for Hoffman, who yielded six hits and three walks in 4 1/3 innings.
"I would’ve liked to have got the chance to work out of that, but at the same time, I’m all for whatever DB thinks is the right move," Hoffman said. "We have all the faith in the world in that bullpen out there. Tonight, maybe, there is a crooked number up there, but that’s not going to stop us from giving the ball to those guys again."
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Lefty Cionel Pérez entered out of the bullpen with a one-run lead and two runners on base. David Peralta, the first batter he faced, hit a high chopper to Jonathan India at second base. India opted to flick the ball to second instead of the sure out at first, and the slow speed of the chopper cost him. Everybody was safe and the bases were loaded.
"There were some balls that our infielders were doing everything they could to make the play," Bell said. "We were just in-between balls that led to some hits. I think their speed came into play as well."
Pérez walked the next batter on four pitches, which scored the game-tying run, and then lost the lead on a ground ball up the middle. India made a diving stop to prevent the ball from rolling into the outfield, but his glove toss to second base from the ground was well wide of the bag.
Stephen Vogt, a lefty hitter who the D-Backs didn’t use as a pinch-hitter against Pérez in the ninth inning Friday, made the Reds pay with a two-out, bases-clearing single on a ground ball to center field. Eduardo Escobar scored from first base when center fielder Nick Senzel fell while fielding the ball.
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Pérez allowed just one hit out of the infield, and one walk, and the Reds were down 6-2 by the end of the inning. It was the first time the Reds trailed in a game since the fourth inning Monday.
"Maybe not quite as sharp as we’ve seen him, but pretty good," Bell said of Pérez. "He had good stuff and made pitches. ... He did get the ground balls and he did his job."
The Reds took a 2-0 lead in the third inning. Suárez drew a leadoff walk and Mike Moustakas followed with a double into the right-field corner to put two runners in scoring position.
Senzel delivered an RBI single to right field before he was picked off by Vogt. Then India muscled a 94-mph sinker that jammed him into right field for an RBI single to score Moustakas.
"Overall," Bell said, "it wasn’t our night, but a lot of good things still happened."
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D-Backs infielder Asdrúbal Cabrera hit a solo homer against Hoffman in the fourth inning. It snapped a 24-inning scoreless streak for Reds starting pitchers.
Reds reliever Carson Fulmer allowed a run in the seventh inning when Locastro hit a leadoff single, stole second, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on a sacrifice fly. Locastro successfully stole the first 28 bases in his career, an MLB record (Tim Raines started with 27 successful attempts).
The National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown asked Locastro for his cleats.
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