Cincinnati Reds Win a Wild One Over Giants in 10 Innings, 9-8

W: Aroldis Chapman (4-4)

L: Sergio Romo (0-5)

SV: Jumbo Diaz (1)

The Cincinnati Reds put three runs on the board early, added five more late in the game, and had to rely on a Todd Frazier home run in the tenth inning to get the 9-8 win over the Giants, in one of the weirdest games of the season. To summarize, there were 16 different pitchers were used, five errors, three lead changes and two replay reviews for one play. Yeah, it was  one crazy game.

The Reds strung together a couple hits in the first inning, capped off with an Ivan De Jesus Jr. two-run triple. I

n the seventh, with the Reds down by two, ten batters came to the plate for a five-run inning. It started when Skip Schumaker walked and then appeared to score from first on an errant throw to first from the pitcher. The Giants challenged the play and Schumaker was called out at home.

More from Blog Red Machine

• Reds vs. White Sox: Pitching preview, prediction, and more
• Reds: Reiver Sanmartin adds another twist to offseason roster construction
• Reds: Signing Tyler Mahle to a contract extension should be a top priority
• Reds: Reiver Sanmartin should get first major league start vs Pirates
• Reds should unquestionably bring Wade Miley back in 2022

Then, RBI singles from Jay Bruce and Brandon Phillips tied the game. After De Jesus walked with the bases loaded to bring in a run, Ramon Cabrera sliced a pinch-hit single to left to score two. Because of the error, three of the five runs were unearned.

The weirdness continued in the eighth when J.J. Hoover couldn’t finish the inning because of control issues. Aroldis Chapman entered with one out and promptly loaded the bases by walking pinch-hitter Madison Bumgarner (!) and hitting Ehire Adrianza (who?) in the foot. In between those batters, he struck out two. Chapman tried to close it out in the ninth, but after an error by Frazier scored one run, Buster Posey singled to tie the game and give Chapman a blown save.

Starting pitcher John Lamb pitched well for three innings, but the fourth and final inning was trouble. That seems to be his M.O. since being called up. The Giants threatened in the first, but Lamb escaped with a ground-ball double play. Lamb would give up six hits on three runs with three strikeouts. The bright spot of Lamb’s outing would be that he did not walk a batter. All three runs came via a Posey three-run homer in the fourth. Every time he hits a home run against Cincinnati, I’m sure Reds fans have flashbacks to that fateful NLDS Game 5 in 2012. Or is that just me?

Other Notes:

• With his RBI single in the seventh, Cabrera is now 5-for-5 in the series. Talk about making the most out of an opportunity.
• It really is a daily occurrence now. Joey Votto went 0-for-3, but walked twice and scored two runs. He extended his on-base streak to 34 games.
• Bruce Bochy used nine pitchers in Tuesday’s game, including four in the seventh. And casual fans wonder why baseball is a long game.
• Chapman became the first player in MLB history to record 100+ strikeouts and 30+ saves in four straight seasons. However, he did not get the save on Tuesday; instead, he blew the save, and ended up with the win. Jumbo Diaz got the save, the first of his MLB career.

Up Next: The Reds and Giants finish their three-game series Wednesday night at 10:15 p.m. ET. Michael Lorenzen (4-8, 5.45 ERA) will go up against Jake Peavy (6-6, 4.15 ERA) in a battle of rookie vs. veteran.

Next: Where will Joey Votto finish in NL MVP race