Cincinnati Reds: Comedy of errors leads to third straight loss

The Cincinnati Reds could not get out of their own way in a 5-1 loss to the Los Angeles Angels on Tuesday night. The Reds have now dropped three straight.

After Joey Votto set the tone, what looked like it could be the start of a new winning streak turned into a comedy of errors for the Cincinnati Reds. Base running blunders, not knowing the number of outs in an inning, and an inside-the-park home run spelled doom for the Reds as David Bell‘s squad lost their third straight game.

The Reds were certainly off their game on Tuesday night. After jumping ahead 1-0 in the first inning, it looked like Cincinnati was ready to hang a few more runs on the board against the Angels’ starter, but Eugenio Suárez, as we’ve seen a few times this season, made a mistake running the bases and was caught between third base and home plate for the final out of the inning.

Things didn’t get much better in the bottom of the inning when Tommy La Stella took a 3-1 pitch from Tyler Mahle off the wall in center field. Nick Senzel made an attempt at a leaping grab, but to no avail. Yasiel Puig was not in position to help Senzel out and as a result, La Stella raced around the bases and scored on a leadoff inside-the-park home run.

José Peraza, who got the start at second base, showed some promise with a leadoff single in the top of the second inning. However, Peraza, who has his fair share of critics within the Cincinnati fanbase, is sure to get some more heat after he was caught leaning and was picked off by Andrew Heaney.

Peraza decided to double down on his gaffe in the the bottom of the seventh inning. The Reds were trailing 4-1 at the time and Peraza, who’d been moved to left field, apparently forgot that there was only one out and not two.

After catching a warning track shot off the bat of Wilfredo Tovar, Peraza did not get the ball back into the infield quick enough and Shohei Ohtani scored from second base. You read that right, Tovar recorded an RBI sacrifice fly with a runner on second base.

On top of all that, Yasiel Puig was ejected in the sixth inning after arguing balls and strikes. Though his complaint was warranted, that’s just something you can’t do. After David Bell came onto the field to defend his player, he was ejected as well.

While the Cincinnati Reds have not undone all the good that they put together last week with their 6-game winning streak, they’re trying their best to do so. Thankfully every other NL Central team lost last night as well, so the Reds didn’t slip in the standings. Hopefully Tanner Roark can get the club back on track tonight in the series finale against the Angels.