The Cincinnati Reds haven’t had a player hit for the cycle since 1989. But on Monday at Great American Ball Park, two players finished the game one hit away from that milestone.
Shortstop Kyle Farmer and second baseman Max Schrock each had the best game of their careers to lead the Reds to a blowout win.
Behind eight combined RBI from Farmer and Schrock, the Reds beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 11-1, in front of 17,878 fans at Great American Ball Park.
“That’s what a team is all about,” Reds manager David Bell said. “(For) the entire lineup and Wade (Miley) and the bullpen all to come through like that, it was a great day. Max Schrock and Kyle Farmer both had great days. It couldn’t come at a better time.”
Before the game , Bell explained why utility player Max Schrock was batting fifth in the batting order.
Schrock had never hit higher than sixth, but he was in Monday’s lineup above other left-handed hitters like catcher Tucker Barnhart and infielder Shogo Akiyama. While Schrock was the only player in Monday’s starting lineup who has had multiple stints in Triple-A this season, Bell had a reason for batting him fifth.
“(Schrock) can hit a fastball,” Bell said before the game. “When you can do that, you always have a chance.”
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And then in his first at-bat, Schrock hit a 95 mph fastball for his first home run with the Reds.
Before Monday, Schrock was 5-for-16 at the plate against fastballs this season and 0-for-10 against all other pitches. Phillies starter Vince Velasquez threw Schrock five fastballs in his first at-bat, and Schrock drove the last one over the right field fence for a homer that gave the Reds a 2-0 lead.
“He started out, got the energy going in the dugout for us with that nice home run,” Farmer said. “That started it off. I’m just following his lead, just taking it one at-bat a time and following him up.”
Schrock only had eight career hits and one career RBI entering the game, and Schrock finished Monday’s game with a home run, a triple and a double.
After his double in the seventh inning, Schrock left the game with a calf injury. Schrock dealt with a similar issue during spring training, and Bell said it could lead to a stint on the injured list.
“It could lead to the IL tomorrow, which is obviously unfortunate,” Bell said. “But he’s been through it before.”
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In his return to the starting rotation after nearly two weeks on the injured list, Reds starting pitcher Wade Miley allowed one run in six innings. Miley missed two starts with a sprained foot, and he also dealt with a minor sinus bug as he was on the injured list.
Relief pitcher Heath Hembree started warming up in the bullpen in the middle of the fourth as Miley had two runners on base and nobody out. But Miley got out of that inning as well as a scoreless fifth and sixth to lower his ERA to 3.26.
“That's huge for our bullpen, those guys got worked a little bit on the road trip and I wanted to go as deep as I could,” Miley said. “David asked me at the end of the fifth how I felt and I said, 'Let's go. I feel fine.' I was able to grab one more and the bullpen came in and locked it down.”
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Velasquez had only allowed three total runs over his previous five starts, but the Reds scored six runs against him on Monday. Velasquez pitched three innings, allowing six runs and five hits.
Farmer hit a two-run home run, an RBI single and a two-run double. He had a career-high five RBI and finished a triple short of the cycle.
“Anytime you’re able to get a run in for the team,” Farmer said. “No matter if it’s an out, groundout -- like Shogo (Akiyama) had that great RBI today, had a great at-bat, forced the run in. Anytime you’re putting up RBIs for the team, it’s a good day.”
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