McCoy: Reds score two in 8th to beat San Diego 2-1, pull within two games of Mets for final NL wild card berth

And suddenly the Reds and San Francisco Giants are both just two games behind the Mets for the final wild card berth.

For the Reds, what happened in San Diego was Against All Odds.

They came to San Diego having lost 15 of their previous 17 games in Petco Park. They hadn’t won a series in Petco since 2019, but took two of three this week.

Andrew Abbott was 0-and-5 for his last seven starts, but pitched a near spotless eight innings of one-run, five-hit pitching.

And it looked like Mission Impossible for seven innings because San Diego’s 13-game winner, Nick Pavetta, baffled the Reds on no runs and four hits.

But once the Reds got into San Diego’s bullpen, the best in MLB, positive things were spliced together by TJ Friedl, Elly De La Cruz and Miguel Andujar.

The Padres led 1-0 when the eighth began - the one run a full-count home run by San Diego’s Fernando Tatis Jr. in the fifth.

Friedl, MLB’s best bunter, dragged one between the pitcher’s mound and first base. Pitcher Kyle Hart flopped head first to the grass to grab it, but his bounce throw to first was late.

It was Friedl’s 11th bunt hit this season, most in the majors. Noelvi Marte grounded out and Friedl took second.

That brought up the struggling De La Cruz with two outs and he quickly fell behind 0-and-2. Then he lashed a hard single to right field.

Right fielder Tatis owns one of the best arms in baseball and his throw home was perfect. But Friedl executed a textbook head-first slide to the outside of home plate and stretched his left arm out to touch home plate to tie it, 1-1.

“First of all, I had to get a good jump on contact,” Friedl told reporters after the game. “As soon as Elly hit it, I knew he smoked it to right. And I know Tatis has a cannon.

Credit: AP

Credit: AP

“When I took the corner (at third) I was outside the plate so kept my body on the outside and tucked my hand in there.”

If they give a ‘Slide of the Year,’ Friedl won it with that slide.

“We’re treating every game as if it is our last game,” he said. “We have to lay it on the line every game until the end of the season and see where we’re at.”

De La Cruz stole second base after his hit and San Diego manager Mike Shildt made a strange decision. He ordered Austin Hays walked intentionally.

That played right into Cincinnati’s hands. With left-handed Adrian Morejan on the mound, Reds manager Tito Francona sent right-hander Miguel Andujar to pinch-hit for Gavin Lux.

Andujar, hitting .380 against left-handers, picked on Morejan’s first pitch and blooped a single to left field that scored De La Cruz for the 2-1 lead.

“This means a lot for the team,” said De La Cruz. “It’s a tight race, a tight race.”

About his big hit and stolen base, De La Cruz said, “I just wanted to get the job done. I did it, so we won. Then I knew I had to get to second so I could score.”

Said Francona about De La Cruz’s major contribution,, “He has survival skills. I know he doesn’t feel good at the plate, we all do. But he fought it off and then that made them make some decisions.”

Some bad ones, as it turned out.

Closer Emilio Pagan was unavailable, so Tony Santillan was asked to finish it. He gave up a leadoff double to Gavin Sheets, the potential tying run, but Santillan retired the next three, striking out pinch-hitter Bryce Johnson on three pitches to end it.

Abbott was, as Francona put it, “Abbott again.” He was on target, start to finish. In the eighth he went 1-2-3 with two strikeouts. His last strikeout was Manny Machado with a 95 miles an hour fastball, his best of the night.

Machado, San Diego’s most dangerous hitter, was 0 for 12 during the three games.

“I probably executed the best that I have this entire season,” said Abbott about his performance. “It was really about getting ahead on the even counts, the 1-and-1s and the 0-and-0s,” he said. “First pitch strikes and putting everything in the zone.”

Francona said what Abbott did was the precursor to what happened in the decisive eighth.

“What sticks out for me was Abbott getting us there,” he said. “He gave up the 3-and-2 fastball home run to Tatis, other than that, he looked like Abbott.

“If there’s a dent or something along the way, what happens in the eighth doesn’t matter,” he added. “The way he pitched while we scratched and clawed. . .we dumped a couple hits in there and it was a big win for us.”

After a day off Thursday, the Reds open a three-game series Friday night in the Sacramento minor league park against the Athletics.

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