MIAMI –– At loanDepot Park on Saturday, the Miami Marlins started the reigning NL Cy Young Award winner, and the Cincinnati Reds had a bullpen day. The Marlins started ace Sandy Alcantara, who has one of the fastest fastballs in baseball and is one of the best strike throwers in the league. The Reds relied on the bullpen and prospect Levi Stoudt, who had a 5.83 ERA in Triple-A and took a 6:30 am flight to Miami on Saturday morning.
The Reds have come back from behind regularly over the last two weeks, and they beat the odds again with Saturday’s 6-5 win over the Marlins.
Reds left fielder Jake Fraley hit his third home run of the series, belting a high fly ball that just stayed fair down the right field line. Alcantara overpowered the Reds for most of the game, but Fraley’s home run kept the Reds in the game against one of the best starters in baseball. Following a Marlins’ comeback, Fraley hit an RBI single in the eighth inning that scored Jonathan India from second base.
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For the second straight day, Fraley’s clutch hits were the difference in a comeback win over the Marlins. After Fraley tied the game in the eighth inning, Reds right fielder Henry Ramos drove him in for the go-ahead run by crushing a double off Alcantara. Even on a day where the Reds had to stitch together nine innings between Stoudt and the bullpen, the Reds won a game against one of the best starting pitchers in baseball.
Alcantara allowed six runs in 7 ⅔ innings, posting one of his worst starts of the last two years. In an all-hands-on-deck game by the Reds’ bullpen, Cincinnati pulled out the win.
Nick Lodolo was supposed to start for the Reds on Saturday, but he was scratched with calf soreness. Prospect Levi Stoudt was initially scheduled to start in Triple-A on Friday night, but he learned just before he started warming up for the game that he was headed to Miami.
The Reds used an opener on Saturday, having middle reliever Derek Law start the game. Stoudt followed Law by throwing three innings, and Buck Farmer, Lucas Sims, Ian Gibaut and Casey Legumina took the Reds into the eighth inning.
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Then Legumina took a comebacker off his leg and limped off the field. The Reds’ only available option in the bullpen was closer Alexis Díaz, who was pitching for the second straight day. Díaz stepped up and pitched through some adversity in the ninth inning to close out the game.
Takeaways from Reds vs. Marlins
1. Since the Reds got only three innings from Stoudt and reliever Lucas Sims only faced one batter, the Reds didn’t have much margin for error in the bullpen. Then when Legumina left the game, they were nearly out of options. Alex Young, who had pitched in two of the Reds’ previous three games, and Ben Lively, who pitched three innings on Thursday, were their only other pitchers in the bullpen aside from Díaz. He was dominant in the eighth inning but nearly folded in the ninth. Díaz allowed an RBI double and two walks as the go-ahead run reached second base. But Díaz caught a second wind and bailed out the bullpen in the ninth.
2. The Reds’ rally in the fifth inning against Alcantara started with big plate appearances from the bottom of the order. Against Alcantara, Reds shortstop Jose Barrero fouled a ball off his leg, and Bell and a team trainer checked on Barrero on the field before Barrero took his next swing. Barrero ended up hitting a flare down the left field line, which he turned into a double. Next, Reds catcher Curt Casali walked to put Fraley in position to hit the go-ahead homer.
3. The Reds’ comeback in the eighth inning started with a stolen base by India. He only stole three bases last year, but he has stolen eight bases this year. After he took the extra base, India sprinted from second-to-home on a soft ground ball into the outfield by Fraley.
Stat of the day Fraley has five home runs this season, and three of them have come in this series against Miami.
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