And he balked. And automatic runner TJ Friedl walked home with what proved to be the winning run, 8-7.
All that was left was for Lucas Sims to prevent Arizona’s ghost runner from scoring in the bottom of the 11th. And he did — one, two, three.
So the Relentless Rally Reds scored an implausible seemingly unattainable victory after they played seven listless innings.
They were down 4-0 and 4-1 after seven innings. They had put runners on base in six of the seven innings and scored one run. And that came on Matt McLain’s home run in the sixth.
But they erupted in the dying innings to score one in the eighth, two in the ninth, three in the 10th and one in the 11th.
They trailed 4-2 in the ninth but tied it against Arizona closer Paul Sewald. He walked Noelvi Marte on a full count to open the inning and he stole second. Tyler Stephenson doubled to right for a run and Friedl, 0 for 12 in the series at the time, blooped a single to center to tie it, 4-4.
The game rolled into the 10th and the Reds exploded for three runs and many of the 34,028 vacated the premises and those that stayed were booing lustily.
Spencer Steer opened the 10th with a double that scored automatic runner Elly De La Cruz. Nick Martinez doubled for his third hit and second RBI and Christian Encarnacion-Strand singled for a third run.
That gave Reds closer Alex Diaz a three-run lead to work with, but he was not in synch.
The DBacks scored three in the bottom of the 10th to tie it with only one hit. Geraldo Perdomo singled home a run. Diaz walked Corbin Carroll. Tommy Pham hit a double play ball that would have ended it. But it zipped between second baseman McLain’s legs for his second error of the night and a run scored.
Christian Walker tied it, 7-7, with a sacrifice fly.
Arizona’s Crismatt retired the first two Reds in the 11th, then Steer beat an infield hit that sent Friedl to third.
With the 0-2 count on Hopkins, Crismatt set himself on the rubber, then stopped and set himself again, a balk.
So the Reds have won 68 games and they have come from behind to win an MLB best 41 times. And 28 of the wins have been by one run. And the Reds are 9-5 in extra innings.
The Reds ended Arizona’s seven-game winning streak after losing the first two of the series.
There isn’t a scale made in Toledo that could weigh the importance of the Cincinnati victory. First, the Reds leap-frogged Arizona in the wild card standings by a half-game.
In addition, the Reds clinched the season series. They lead it four games to two. If the two teams tie for a wild card spot, the Reds go to the playoffs by virtue of winning the season series.
Both the Milwaukee Brewers and Chicago Cubs won so the Reds lost no ground to those two teams ahead of them in the National League Central standings. They trail first-place Milwaukee by five games and Chicago by one.
It was a Bullpen Day for the Reds and relief pitcher Fernando Cruz started it. He gave up a leadoff triple to Corbin Carroll and he scored on catcher Tyler Stephenson’s passed ball.
Cruz pitched 1 1/3 innings (23 pitches) and struck out the next four hitters after Carroll’s triple.
Sam Moll replaced Cruz and contributed 1 2/3 innings, giving up a walk and nothing more.
Then it was Ben Lively’s turn, fresh off the injured list. He gave the Reds 5 2/3 innings with only one hiccup. It came in the fifth and it appeared it was the inning things turned upside down for the Reds.
He gave up a single, a double and then a three-run home run to Ketel Marte. A month ago Lively faced Marte in Cincinnati and gave up a triple and a home run. Nothing changed. Marte cranked Lively’s first pitch over the right field fence to give Arizona a 4-0 lead.
After the home run, Lively pitched 3 1/3 scoreless innings, holding the DBacks down until his teammates could unwrap some semblance of an offense.
In only one inning did an Arizona pitcher go 1-2-3, the fifth, and the Reds had hits in five of the first seven innings but produced just one run.
Then ... mayhem.
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