TODAY’S GAME
Marlins at Reds, 1:10 p.m., FS Ohio, 700, 1410
Aroldis Chapman may be Superman, but he isn’t perfect — almost invincible, yes, but not perfect.
Justin Ruggiano tagged Chapman with his first run of the season Friday, hitting a towering home run to center that seemed to go as far vertically as it did horizontally. After a tense couple of seconds, it landed in the first three rows of the stands just to the left of the Reds bullpen at Great American Ball Park.
That run, the first scored by either team since the third, gave the Marlins a 2-1 victory and snapped the Reds’ four-game winning streak.
“You’re so used to (Chapman) being perfect,” manager Dusty Baker said. “I think that happened a couple times last year, but not many. It’s going to happen.”
Ruggiano also hit a home run in the series opener Thursday, an 11-1 Reds win.
“The guy hit a 90-something mile-per-hour fastball,” Baker said. “You’ve just got to tip your hat to him. He did the same thing last night. We’ve just got to pitch him more carefully.”
The Reds (9-8) collected five hits and never had more than one hit in an inning, They wasted a strong outing by Mat Latos, who gave up one earned run and six hits in seven innings with 10 strikeouts. He has pitched at least six innings and allowed three earned runs or fewer in all four of his starts this season.
“It’s frustrating because we got the loss,” Latos said. “I did the best I could in brutal conditions. The second through the fourth, it’s raining, it’s cold, it’s windy. Nobody wants to be out there in those conditions, but I put together a solid outing and gave my team a chance to win. It was just one of those days.”
The Reds scored their only run in the first. Shin-Soo Choo tripled to center, his first triple of the season and only the second by the team.
Choo scored two batters later when Joey Votto hit a sacrifice fly to left for his fourth RBI and his first in five games. That was the highlight of Votto’s night because he did not reach base for the first time this season and he struck out on four pitches to make the first out in the ninth after Zack Cozart led off with a single.
The Marlins tied the score in the third. Their top hitter, Placido Polanco (.309), laced a two-out single to right. Nick Green scored from third, and Donovan Solano tried to score from second, but Jay Bruce threw him out at home.
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