LAS VEGAS – It was a pro-Oakland crowd for the two-game weekend series at Las Vegas Ballpark, a potential future home for the A’s, but one of the louder cheers Sunday was reserved for Cincinnati Reds outfielder TJ Friedl’s two-run single in the second inning.
Friedl, who lives in Northwest Vegas, had a large contingent of family and friends at the games, estimating he had a group of 27 people in Saturday’s crowd. Some lived in the area. Some drove down from the Bay Area. His dad traveled from Pittsburgh.
“It’s so cool getting to see everyone before the game,” Friedl said. “Having those opportunities like that, I don’t get that all year long. My brother-in-law, (Saturday) was the first time he’s seen me play and a couple of other family friends that live here in Vegas because I don’t ever play here. Just having those opportunities was really special.”
Friedl’s favorite moment was bringing his 15-month-old son onto the field for Saturday’s pregame stretch and watching him walk around with teammates Tyler Stephenson and Jonathan India. It was his son’s first game of the spring, and his teammates weren’t used to see his son walking.
“Last year when I was playing, he was so young that he wasn’t really walking,” Friedl said. “Even for Tyler and India – he was in the clubhouse a lot, but I was carrying him around. For them to see him walking around and stuff like that, Tyler was telling me, ‘man, it’s crazy how fast things change.’ ”
Indeed.
The last time the Reds played spring training games in Las Vegas was in March 2020. Less than a week later, spring training was paused because of the pandemic.
“That’s one of my memories of playing in ’20,” Friedl said. “We flew back home, and the next day was when it was like, ‘everyone go back home. We’re not sure what is going on. We’re not sure what is happening. We just need everyone to go home and be safe.’ I remember my wife came down too. We just turned around and drove right back up here. That was kind of the start of everything. That was the last time I played here. That was crazy, for sure.”
A lot changed with the Reds’ roster from the last time they played in Las Vegas. Jesse Winker, Mike Moustakas, Phillip Ervin and Aristides Aquino were the primary players in town and hitting atop the lineup.
One minor leaguer who had a breakout game with three hits in three at-bats, including a double and a home run, was then-third baseman India.
“It started here,” said India, who didn’t make his MLB debut until 2021. “Definitely a terrible year for everyone obviously because of the pandemic, but it started good for me, and I carried with it. It definitely carried over. I took a lot what I learned into the (alternate) site, then used that to make the team. It helped a lot.”
Said Friedl: “Back in 2020, I was fresh off surgery from my foot. The game I played here was my first game back off surgery fully healthy. I played in that one game and got sent home right after that. But just in three years, Stephenson, India and myself, just seeing that transformation has been awesome.”
Hunter Greene, who started Saturday’s game, hadn’t pitched in Las Vegas since he was around 10 years old in youth tournaments. He was recovering from Tommy John surgery when the Reds played in Vegas in 2020.
With a grandma who lives nearby, Greene had a group of family on hand to watch him.
“It was cool for everybody to see each other,” Greene said. “It's kind of like a reunion.”
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