With two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning and the tying run on third base, the biggest possible situation in a baseball game, Cincinnati Reds right fielder Nick Castellanos sat on the bench.
On Monday night’s 15-11 loss in 11 innings against the New York Mets, the Reds had the game winning run on third base with two outs in the ninth. Castellanos didn’t start because of a sore right wrist after being hit by a pitch on Friday. He wasn't at 100% and didn't take batting practice on the field.
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But he ended up being available to hit.
Yet even with the go-ahead runner on third, Castellanos didn’t enter the game. Pinch-hitter Mike Freeman struck out to end the inning.
Then in the 10th inning, the Reds had two runners on base and no outs, and left-handed outfielder Tyler Naquin faced a left-handed relief pitcher. Later in the inning, Castellanos stood in the dugout with his batting gloves on and his helmet nearby, but it was a bluff.
Shogo Akiyama made the last out of the 10th inning against a left-handed pitcher, and the game went into the 11th. At the time, it appeared that Castellanos would be unavailable to play as he waits for the swelling in his wrist to go down.
But then in the middle of the top of the 11th inning, Castellanos came running from the dugout and entered the game in right field in a double switch. He was slated to come up fourth in the 11th inning, which meant he finally could have had a chance for a game-winning hit.
It didn’t matter. After Castellanos entered the game, Reds reliever Ryan Hendrix allowed two home runs as the Mets took a five-run lead.
On Monday night in front of 17,080 fans at Great American Ball Park, the Reds needed seven high-leverage innings from their bullpen. Six of them came from veteran relievers who began the year in Triple-A.
Reds starting pitcher Vladimir Gutierrez had one of his worst starts of the season, allowing a career-high nine hits and six runs in four innings. After Gutierrez left the game, the Reds bullpen allowed nine more runs, four of which came off Hendrix in the 11th.
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Reds reliever R.J. Alaniz, who was promoted from Triple-A and made his MLB season debut on Monday, entered the game for the fifth inning. On the first batter Alaniz faced, he allowed a game-tying solo home run.
One inning later, Osich entered the game to face the bottom of the Mets lineup. The Reds top left-handed reliever, Amir Garrett, had already pitched a scoreless seventh inning, so the left-handed Osich faced the bottom half of a lineup that mostly featured left-handers.
Osich allowed a single to Mets right fielder Michael Conforto to start the inning, and McCann homered on the next at-bat.
In the 10th inning, Edgar García made his Reds debut in extra innings. García didn’t allow an earned run in the 10th, but the Mets scored their automatic runner from second base. Then in the 11th, García allowed two singles and two earned runs.
After Hendrix allowed two homers, the stakes of Castellanos’ at-bat in the 11th were considerably less. Instead of having a chance to drive in the game-winning run, Castellanos stepped up to the plate with the Reds trailing by four runs and two runners on base.
Castellanos hit a 339-foot line drive to the right field warning track that was nearly a home run. But it was a few feet short, so Castellanos flew out to right field for the second out of the inning. After Castellanos went back to the bench, Freeman struck out to end the game.
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