It was like a bouquet of red roses wilting before the blooms fully opened, a beauty queen getting a boil on her cheek just minutes before being fitted with her crown.

The Cincinnati Reds, poised to sweep their National League Division Series against the San Francisco Giants in front of 44,501 red-clad fans ready to party Tuesday night, lost 2-1 in 10 innings thanks, in part, to a pair of out-of-character defensive miscues in the final inning.

In the process a masterful effort by starting pitcher Homer Bailey was wasted.

With Giants runners on first and second, two outs and Reds reliever Jonathan Broxton now in a groove, catcher Ryan Hanigan had a pitch squib off his glove. The passed ball advanced the runners. And then third baseman Scott Rolen bobbled a tough-hop grounder by pinch hitter Joaquin Arias that allowed the winning run to score.

Add in a first-inning baserunning miscue by Brandon Phillips that probably cost the Reds a run and you need not wonder why the Reds return to Great American Ball Park today to meet the Giants. With a win they will advance to their first National League Championship Series in 17 years.

Tuesday night’s extra-inning loss put the party on hold and kept Bailey from being fully celebrated as he should have been.

He was truly masterful, throwing seven innings of one-hit, one-run baseball and striking out a career-high 10.

Bailey’s stellar effort came 12 days after he threw a no-hitter against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

As manager Dusty Baker said after the game: “Homer was lights out. That’s the best I’ve seen Homer. I didn’t see his no- hitter because I was in the hospital.

“He’s getting better and better, and that’s what we hoped.”

Usiing his trademark fastball to overpower one San Francisco hitter after another (including striking out six Giants in a row during one mid-game stretch), Bailey had the second-largest crowd in GABP history, on its feet waving their white rally towels and heartily applauding him after nearly every Giant out.

Witnessing this total appreciation by Reds fans in what has been a breakout season for him – early in his career he wasn’t always so warmly appreciated by fans or some teammates – reminded me of the first time I met him.

And why I always thought he was misunderstood by a lot of folks.

Seven years ago – when he was a Dayton Dragon – I sat down with him for an hour and we talked about everything imaginable.

Chicken fried steak, pit barbecue, pickup trucks, deer hunting, the 240,000 chickens that were on the family’s Texas egg farm, his Hispanic mother — “the tallest Mexican woman I know” — and finally his dad, who taught him not only how to throw a fastball, but how to “battle and be a bulldog” on the mound. Those were just some of the topics.

After our hour-long conversation I wrote a big story on him and then, just a few days later, something happened that I’ve seen occur only three or four times in my 39 years of sports writing.

A hand- written letter from Bailey arrived in the mail thanking me for talking to him and especially for taking the time to get to know him. Pro athletes never do that. A few may say something the next time they see you, but none ever writes a letter.

Bailey, though, was heartfelt in his message and ended it with: “I hope one day I really show you what I can do in the big leagues.”

Tuesday night he did just.

Too bad somebody else wilted the rose.