Cincinnati Reds: Walks haunt in extra-innings loss on the road

The Cincinnati Reds had another one-run loss on Saturday night. However, while the offense struggled, it was the pitching that let the Reds down this time.

If you walk nine batters in a game, you’re going to come up short more times than not. That’s exactly what happened to the Cincinnati Reds on Saturday night in Atlanta. While the Reds offense did enough to offset the the wild performance from the Reds pitching staff, in the end, too many walks costs the Reds a chance to climb the NL Central ladder.

It seems as though the Reds find new ways to frustrate the fanbase on any given night. The normally reliable pitching staff was the culprit on Saturday. Trevor Bauer drew his first start to the Reds since the three-way trade that took place on Tuesday. While Bauer was solid, he was also erratic, waling three batters before being pulled after 4.2 innings and 107 pitches.

Now, don’t freak out Reds fans, as walks are part of Bauer’s game. Just like Cincinnati ace Luis Castillo, Bauer has a tendency to put a lot of runners on base. But the base on balls went well beyond just Trevor Bauer last night. In five innings of work, the bullpen surrendered six walks of their own. Three of those came with Michael Lorenzen on the bump, who walked in the go-ahead run in the eighth inning.

Lucas Sims and Raisel Iglesias, in a non-save situation nonetheless, took care of business while they were toeing the rubber. Sims was flawless in relief of Bauer. The right-hander came in during the fifth to get the final out and went 1.1 innings, finishing off the Braves in sixth. Sims racked up three strikeouts against four batters in just 21 pitches. Of those 21, 15 were thrown for strikes.

Amir Garrett, normally the Reds best weapon out of the bullpen, surrendered a walk to begin the eighth inning. That would turnout to be the go-ahead runner that Lorenzen would walk in after putting three Braves on the bases himself without allowing a single hit.

Jared Hughes couldn’t throw a strike either. In the top of the 10th inning, acting manager Freddy Benavides called upon the veteran right-hander to take over for Iglesias, who had a flawless ninth inning.

The move was a bit curious in that Iglesias hit for himself in the top of the inning. While there were no other position players available, you’d have to think that maybe Anthony DeSclafani or Sonny Gray might’ve been a better option.

Regardless, Hughes walked the first two batters he faced, and after Johan Camargo bunted the runners over, he was lifted in favor of Robert Stephenson. In a difficult spot, runners on second and third with just one out, Stephenson dispatched of pinch-hitter Charlie Culberson. However, the Braves All-Star outfielder Ronald Acuna Jr. was up next and he singled in the winning run.

The Cincinnati Reds offense battled back from down 3-0 and 4-3, only to see the pitching staff let them down last night. Hopefully, the Reds can get a quality start from All-Star Sonny Gray and earn a split in this series. If you’d have told me before the series that Cincinnati would win 2-of-4 in Atlanta, I’d have taken that all day long.