Cincinnati Reds manager David Bell never formally named a closer all season, eschewing the title because he's willing to use several relievers in the ninth inning of games.
Heath Hembree, however, has been the closest thing the Reds had to a closer in the past month. He's pitched in the ninth inning in 15 of his last 16 relief appearances, earning seven of his eight saves in that stretch.
After Hembree surrendered a three-run homer to Jorge Polanco with one out in the top of the ninth inning Tuesday in a 7-5 loss to the Minnesota Twins at Great American Ball Park, he may have lost his grip on the ninth inning and the unofficial closer role.
It was his second blown save this year and his fourth consecutive outing allowing at least a run. The Reds have lost in three of his last four appearances.
"We’ve really never designated certain pitchers to certain innings," Bell said. "We’ll continue to do what’s best each and every game depending on the opposing lineup and where our guys are – their rest and all kinds of different factors, which we’ll take into consideration. The main thing is we’re getting healthy. We’re getting guys back."
Hembree pitched into his own jam, issuing back-to-back seven-pitch walks to open the ninth inning. It was just the third time this season he's walked two batters in an inning, and the second time in the last eight days.
With reliever Brad Brach warming in the bullpen, Hembree struck out Brent Rooker in a seven-pitch at-bat. Next up was the switch-hitting Polanco.
"There was a lot of different considerations there," Bell said. "Once (Hembree) got the strikeout, definitely wanted to give him the opportunity to get out of it, but at the same time, his pitch count was getting super high there."
Polanco said he was looking fastball at the beginning of the at-bat against Hembree and he missed one over the middle. He fouled four straight pitches, including a slider off his shin on the pitch before his game-winning homer.
On the eighth pitch of the at-bat, Polanco hooked a slider down the right-field line. The crowd of 18,396 fell silent. Before Polanco's blast, the Twins were 2-for-14 with runners in scoring position.
"You’re trying to be unpredictable in a way with an at-bat that’s gone that long," catcher Tucker Barnhart said. "We thought that three sliders in a row, which he hadn’t seen the entire at-bat or the entire game was a pitch we could use, especially after he seemed like he pulled off of it and fouled it off after the second one in a row with two strikes. It wasn’t a bad pitch, I didn’t think."
The Reds have a 7-4 record in their last 11 games and they've lost three of those games when leading after the seventh inning. They had a lead entering the ninth inning in each of their last two losses.
"Every game, no matter what, is a must-win," said Reds starter Tyler Mahle, who allowed six hits and four runs in five innings. "Being four games out of the wild card or whatever we are doesn’t matter. At this point of the season, every game is a must-win. I think that’s just the easiest way to look at it."
Jonathan India gave the Reds a 5-4 lead in the fifth inning when he hit a two-run homer off Twins starter Kenta Maeda. Three pitches after Shogo Akiyama reached on a pinch-hit single, India connected on an 84-mph splitter and drove the ball into the left-field stands. It was just the second homer off Maeda's splitter since the 2019 season, according to Statcast.
Eugenio Suárez and Tucker Barnhart hit back-to-back homers on back-to-back pitches off Maeda in the third inning. It was the sixth set of back-to-back homers by Reds batters this season and Suárez was involved in four of them.
The Reds' bullpen successfully bridged the gap from starter to closer with three scoreless innings from relievers who weren't on the active roster at the beginning of last week: Luis Cessa, Michael Lorenzen and Mychal Givens.
Minnesota loaded the bases in the eighth inning against Givens through a single and two walks, but pinch-hitter Josh Donaldson grounded into an inning-ending double play. Givens didn’t hold back his excitement, punching his hand into his glove several times.
"He made pitches," Bell said. "Maybe not as sharp as we’ve seen him many, many times, but that’s what this is all about. It’s never perfect. When you can make pitches in situations like that, that’s what makes Michael good."
The excitement was short-lived.
Hembree blew a save. The Reds didn't gain ground in the playoff race. It was the sixth time this season Mahle lost a win as the victim of a blown save, which leads the Majors.
"It’s tough losing any game," Mahle said. "I don’t care if we’ve won 10 in a row and drop one, it still hurts. It hurts bad.”
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