There’s something about playing in Cincinnati that brings out the best in Ian Happ, a University of Cincinnati product.
He hit an RBI double against Vladimir Gutierrez in the fourth inning, which led to Gutierrez’s outing spiraling away from him. Then he hit a three-run homer off Luis Cessa in the seventh inning to spoil the Reds’ comeback bid.
Happ was at the center of it all, spoiling Aristides Aquino’s two-homer night, in the Reds’ 7-4 loss to the Chicago Cubs on Monday at Great American Ball Park. Among hitters who have totaled at least 150 at-bats against the Reds, Happ ranks third all-time in OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage) behind Barry Bonds and Dante Bichette.
“He’s a good hitter, no question," Reds Manager David Bell said. "We’ve seen him hit here. We’ve seen him hit at Wrigley. He does it against other teams, too. He definitely beat us."
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Gutierrez, making his first start in 12 days, didn’t permit a hit through his first three innings. His velocity was up, and he had success with his slider.
Then the fourth inning was his last inning. He allowed back-to-back doubles to Seiya Suzuki and Happ on back-to-back pitches. Pitching coach Derek Johnson made a mound visit after a two-out infield single, but Gutierrez’s next pitch was drilled for a three-run homer by Patrick Wisdom.
“He was really good early," Bell said. "I thought that maybe was the best we’ve seen him all year. The ball was coming out of his hand well, good fastball, really good slider – short and quick. He looked really well-rested. I believe after that he had so many days off that it kind of caught up to him."
It was almost exactly a year ago, within a week, when Gutierrez made his Major League debut at Wrigley Field. Gutierrez allowed two hits and one run across five innings against a Cubs lineup that featured Joc Pederson, Kris Bryant and Javier Báez as the first three hitters.
Now, Gutierrez is just fighting to prove he deserves to remain in the Reds’ starting rotation. He was supposed to move to the bullpen last week. He started Monday out of necessity with Nick Lodolo and Connor Overton on the injured list, and Mike Minor still working to complete his rehab assignment.
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Gutierrez has posted an 8.70 ERA through 30 innings. He’s worked hard with Johnson on mechanical adjustments to fix his timing after issues with walks, but the results haven’t shown up.
"I didn’t think about my previous starts," Gutierrez said. "I tried to start out fresh. Today, I was 0-0. Nothing happened in the past. I went out there, tried to forget about everything and give it 100% my best."
The Reds, who have struggled against left-handed pitching, had Cubs lefty Drew Smyly on the ropes during a 26-pitch first inning. Smyly, who issued a pair of two-out walks, stranded the bases loaded when Aristides Aquino chased three straight curveballs at the bottom of the strike zone.
Aquino earned his revenge in the sixth inning when he pummeled a full-count curveball past the center-field wall for a two-run homer. Aquino admired his work for a moment as he stepped out of the batter’s box, then broke into his home run trot.
"When I have confidence," Aquino said, "I’m going to have good results."
In the eighth inning, Aquino hammered a slider from Chris Martin that went even harder and even further than his first homer. It was his first multi-homer game since a three-homer game against the Cubs in Aug. 2019.
It’s a sign of progress for Aquino, who was promoted to the active roster Monday with the Reds set to face four lefties this week. He had two hits in 41 at-bats when he was designated for assignment at the end of April and he already has four hits in his last two games.
"We’ll keep giving him opportunities to see if we can get him going," Bell said.
Still, it wasn’t enough to stop Happ. The Reds were down by a run in the seventh inning when two runners reached base against Jared Solomon. Bell signaled for Cessa out of the bullpen. It was the right move by the numbers as Cessa excels against left-handed batters.
"(Solomon) hadn’t pitched in 9-10 days," Bell said. "My thought process there is we wanted to try and get an inning out of him. If we get to the middle of the order, if he does run into trouble, at that point once we came back and made it a one-run game, we’re going to one of our guys that we typically do. Cessa definitely has been one of those guys.”
Happ had different plans when he pummeled a first-pitch slider over the right-field fence for a three-run homer. It was Happ’s 14th career homer at GABP in 35 games.
"You come to this ballpark," Happ said in his postgame interview with the Cubs' flagship TV station, "you want to leave with at least one."
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