Cincinnati Reds blow late lead again, end up thumped by DBacks in 8-5 loss

As losses go, that was a loss.

The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game

Tyler Mahle threw 6.2 scoreless, awesome innings for the Cincinnati Reds against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday, and I’d written a lot more rosy, optimistic shit about it before the bullpen completely collapsed before the game could finish.

You deserve dap, Tyler. Well done.

(/takes deep breath)

Key Plays

• The Reds got on the board in the Bottom of the 4th courtesy of the heart of their order. Geno bused out of his mini-slump with a rope of a single off the LF wall, and Votto followed that with a walk. Senzel then poked his second hit of the night into LF to load the bags with 1-out, and a long Jonny India sac-fly plated a run to put the Reds ahead, 1-0.
• The Bottom of the 5th saw the Reds add to their tally, and it began with a Tyler Stephenson single. He moved up on a productive Mahle bunt and then scored on a triple by Jesse Winker into the RF corner that banged around awkwardly enough for him to bang around the bases awkwardly, too. Tyler Naquin’s sac-fly into CF scored Wink, and the Reds held a 3-0 lead.
• Amir Garrett took over for the Top of the 9th and (/blinks five times while it feels like needles are stabbing them) walked two dudes before serving up a game-tying 3-run dinger to former Red Josh VanMeter, who the Reds traded away just months ago for (/checks notes) controllable bullpen help. Game tied, 3-3.
• I dunno, y’all. Shit happened in the Top of the 10th, there was an error and a pitching change, a dude got hit and my eyes rolled back in their casings all 2016-style. It was 8-3 when I became a somewhat-sentient being again, and despite the Reds scratching across a Manfred-induced run plus-one in their own set of extra-innings PAs, they lost 8-5 in a most deflating fashion.

Tony Graphanino

Other Notes

• Pardon my french, but that fucking sucked.
• Jeff Hoffman will toe the rubber for the Reds in Thursday’s series finale against Arizona, a matinee affair that has first pitch scheduled for 12:35 PM ET. Taylor Widener is set to start for the snakes.
• Tunes.