And they are seven games over .500 (67-60) for the first time this season.
Even when the Reds blow a 4-1 lead in the seventh and eighth innings and they tie it, 4-4, the Angels can’t escape the Reds’ noose.
After blowing the 4-1 lead, the Reds scored two runs in the top of the ninth off Angels’ closer Kenley Jansen, owner of 470 career saves and nearly always unhittable by the Reds.
The Reds filled the bases with one out on a jam-job single by Jose Trevino, a hit-by-pitch on Ke’Bryan Hayes and a walk to pinch-hitter Will Benson.
TJ Friedl picked on Jansen’s first pitch to lob a sacrifice fly to make it 5-4 and Gavin Lux singled for the 6-4 lead.
Tony Santillan pitched a 1-2-3 ninth with two strikeouts to save Cincinnati’s third straight win and keep them within one game of the New York Mets for the third wild card spot.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Of the turn-it-back-around ninth inning, Reds manager Tito Francona told reporters after the game, “We did a good job against a guy (Jansen) who has been there for a while and done it for a long time. We didn’t chase him around the zone.”
And Angels starter Kyle Hendricks can’t hide from Miguel Andujar. Hendricks, 35, was making his 300th appearance on a pitching mound and these days his fastball wouldn’t break a water balloon.
Andujar, starting at first base for only the fourth time in his career, had three straight hits and drove in two runs against Hendricks.
With those three hits, Andujar is 9 for 10 for his career against Hendricks and one wonders what happened on the at bat Andujar didn’t get a hit.
Twice in the game, in the fourth and the fifth, Andujar dropped hits in front of an outfielder and De La Cruz scored from first base.
Most players would be sliding into third base but the fleet and daring De La Cruz was sliding home.
“Our baserunning tonight probably won us the game,” Francona said. “Elly scores those two from first base and he is the only guy in baseball that scores on those.”
It is said that when a runner is on second he is in scoring position. With De La Cruz, he is in scoring position when he is on first base.
He broke into a broad grin when asked if he feels he can score from first base and said, “Yes, absolutely, Every time.”
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
As for Cincinnati starter Hunter Greene, it doesn’t matter what city or what nickname is on the front of a jersey, he is a handful.
Greene started slowly, a run and three hits in the first inning, then retired 16 of the next 17 with 12 strikeouts.
It was his second start since missing nearly two months with an injury, and perhaps ran out of fuel in the seventh.
Jo Adell led the inning with his 27th home run, a mammoth 452-foot stratospheric launch to center field. Greene struck out Yoan Moncada, but Travis d’Arnaud doubled and Francona thought that was enough.
Graham Ashcraft gave up a run-scoring single to Christian Moore and the Angels were within 4-3.
Then the Angels tied it in the eighth when Luis Mey gave up a two-out home run, once again a blast by Adell, his 28th.
The Angels took a 1-0 lead in the first after Greene retired the first two, then three straight hits by Mike Trout, Taylor Ward and Adell.
The Reds tied it when Noelvi Marte extended his hitting streak to ten games with his 10th home run, a drive over the center field wall in the second.
Then it became the Andujar/Elly De La Cruz show.
De La Cruz led the fourth with a bloop single. Andujar dropped one in front of left fielder Taylor Ward and De La Cruz circled the bases like Seabiscuit.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
De La Cruz walked with two outs in the fifth. Andujar dropped one in front of right fielder Adell and De La Cruz circled the bases like Secretariat.
It was Friedl’s sacrifice fly in the ninth against Jansen that saved the Reds an embarrassing loss.
His description of the ninth when the Reds put three on before his RBI fly ball:
“Just some great at bats against a great closer,” he said. “We stuck to our approach, one after another and passed the baton.”
That wasn’t a baton Friedl swung, it was a bat and he said, “I tried to be aggressive early (first pitch), hoping to get something belt-high so I could get something in the air.
He did and he belted it.
NEXT GAME
Who: Cincinnati at L.A. Angels
When: 9:30 p.m., Wednesday, Aug. 20
TV: FanDuel Sports
Radio: 1410-AM, 700-AM
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