CHICAGO – The Cincinnati Reds lost to the Chicago Cubs on Saturday and they beat themselves.
Somehow, the Reds turned a sunny, 57-degree day without a cloud in sight into an ugly afternoon. They dropped a season-worst six games under .500 with their 10-2 loss at Wrigley Field.
It was a game that was tied in the middle of the sixth inning before things spiraled out of control for Reds, and it was their own undoing.
After the Reds scored two runs in the top of the sixth inning, Luis Castillo and Amir Garrett combined to walk four batters to allow the go-ahead run to score without a swing. Then the floodgates opened when Joc Pederson and Kris Bryant hit back-to-back RBI singles off Tejay Antone, who had been lights out in the Reds’ bullpen all year.
It was a backbreaker for the Reds after they had just ended a 16-inning scoreless streak in the top of the sixth inning. They were gifted a great situation when Zach Davies and Rex Brothers walked the bases loaded.
To that point, the Reds were 0-for-12 with runners in scoring position in the series and had stranded 13 runners on base.
Then Tyler Stephenson delivered a two-run double down the right-field line. Stephenson clapped his hands as he reached the second-base bag. It was the first earned run allowed by the Cubs’ bullpen this month, snapping a 38 1/3-inning streak, which was Chicago’s longest streak since earned runs became a statistic.
Cubs reliever Keegan Thompson limited the damage by inducing a pop-out against Max Schrock and striking out Jonathan India, but Stephenson’s double breathed some life into the dugout. At least it looked like it would until walks became the team’s downfall.
Castillo, who has struggled all year, had pitched relatively well until he walked the first two batters of the sixth inning. At the end of the fifth inning, he had allowed two unearned runs on four hits and two walks. He was under 70 pitches through five innings and seemed to be in control.
After a pair of five-pitch walks, Reds manager David Bell turned to Garrett. The Wrigley Field crowd of 24,275 greeted Garrett with loud boos, a reaction to the benches-clearing incident between the two teams at the beginning of the month.
With two runners on base and no outs, Rafael Ortega struck out trying to drop a bunt. Garrett had a 0-2 count against the next batter, Patrick Wisdom, before misfiring on four straight sliders. Then with the bases loaded, Garrett issued a seven-pitch walk to Eric Sogard to allow a run to score.
Antone replaced Garrett as Bell hoped to keep it a one-run game. Antone struck out his first batter before allowing run-scoring singles to Pederson and Bryant on back-to-back pitches.
Prior to Saturday, Antone had allowed only two hits to his last 33 batters.
The Cubs took a 2-0 lead in the second inning, aided by a Eugenio Suárez error at shortstop. Suárez fielded a grounder with one out and Willson Contreras, the runner at second, ran in front of him. Suárez had Contreras caught between bases, but he airmailed a throw to second base.
Suddenly, there were two runners in scoring position and still one out.
Sogard drove in a run with an infield single to shortstop, a slow roller that Suárez had no chance to make a play. Then Cubs starter Zach Davies dropped a one-out, safety squeeze bunt that the Reds misplayed, which led to another run.
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