McCoy: Reds still alive in NL Wild Card race thanks to Marte’s gravity-defying grab

The Cincinnati Reds were clinging to a one-run lead in the ninth inning, clinging to their season.

On a 3-and-0 one-out pitch from Reds closer Emilio Pagan, Pittsburgh’s Bryan Reynolds hit one high and deep, the Reds’ playoff hopes riding with the ball as it headed for the right field seats.

Stationed in right field was Marte, playing the position for only the second month of his professional career. And he has had several mishaps going back on balls.

He floated toward the wall, timed his jump, leaped above the wall and snagged the biggest catch of his career, the biggest catch of the year by any Reds player.

It was as if the Rosetta Stone was in Marte’s glove.

Instead of a 2-2 tie, it preserved the Reds 2-1 victory and kept their hot breaths on the necks of the New York Mets for the third wild card spot.

“My heart was in my mouth,” Gavin Lux, whose fifth-inning single drove home what turned out to be the winning run, told reporters after the game.

And it was Marte who scored that run and his double had put the Reds ahead, 1-0.

Credit: AP

Credit: AP

“That is as big of a play as you can get,” said Lux of Marte’s Willie Mays-type catch. “Who knows, that might have saved our season. That’s a tough catch for any outfielder, plus it came from a guy who has only been out there for, what, two months?

“He has been working really hard out there and that was huge,” he added.

Marte was moved to right field when the Reds acquired the platinum glove of Ke’Bryan Hayes to play third base, where Marte was playing.

“Under the circumstances, that’s one of the best plays I’ve ever seen,” said manager Tito Francona. “The time of the game, the time of the season, how high he got up.”

And the only reason the Reds were in a winning posture was the pitching of Nick Lodolo, who had the Pirates dragging their bats back to the dugout muttering expletives.

His practically perfect pitching line was 6 1/3 innings, no runs, two hits, one walk and 12 strikeouts.

His curveball avoided Pittsburgh bats as if the baseball was allergic to wood. Eight of his 12 strikeouts came on curveballs.

The performance came after he gave up nine runs, 17 hits and five home runs in his previous two starts over 10 innings.

“I’ve been looking to be able to spin the ball like that for a while,” he said. “And it came at a time when we needed it.”

And there was a scare. With one out in the seventh inning, catcher Jose Trevino detected something amiss and ran to the mound.

“We’ll see, I just felt some grabbing in my groin,” he said. “It was getting progressively worse, so a smart play there (for his removal).

“It was during the warm-ups before the inning,” he said. “It felt like it was getting progressively worse with each pitch. I’ll do some treatment and stuff, but I don’t think it’s something crazy.”

So Lodolo was sitting in the training room with a few other people when Marte committed grand larceny on Reynolds.

Credit: AP

Credit: AP

“That was nuts,” Lodolo said of Marte’s catch. “He went fully into the stands and got that. I’m happy for him because he has adjusted to a position he never played, to make a play like that was pretty cool.

“Everyone in the training room just jumped up and we were going nuts,” he said. “We were fired up.”

To begin the series, Marte was 0 for 7 with three strikeouts when he hit the inside the park home run Tuesday to cut Pittsburgh’s lead to 2-1. And he singled in the 10th inning, but the Reds lost in 11, 4-3.

Of his catch, Marte said, “To me, it was one of the best plays I ever made. I don’t think I’ve ever done anything better than this.

“I’ve been taking a lot of information from TJ (Friedl),” he added. “He has been teaching me how many steps I have before I get to the fence. So I’ve put it into practice and I thank God that I made that catch.”

The Reds scored both their runs off Pittsburgh starter Braxton Ashcraft in the fifth. They had hits in each of the first four innings but couldn’t score.

Ke’Bryan Hayes ended an 0 for 25 slide with a single in the third, then beat an infield single to open the fifth. Friedl doubled up the right field gap and Hayes slid home and was called safe.

The Pirates challenged and won — Hayes was called out. But Marte singled home Friedl to make it 1-0 and Lux, batting third in the order, singled for the second time, scoring Marte.

The regular season ends this weekend with a three-game series in Milwaukee, a team that holds an executioner’s ax over the Reds.

Credit: AP

Credit: AP

They’ve won 13 straight series against the Reds and 17 of the last 19.

“Our energy is great, we know what we gotta do,” said Lodolo. “The Brewers are a really good team and they’ve been tough on everybody, not just us. If we want to get into the playoffs, we have to beat some of the best.”

Said Lux, a Marlboro Man in spikes, “We’re trying to build some momentum going into Milwaukee, a team that has had our number. Getting a big win there today, hopefully we can just carry that into Milwaukee. We need‘em all.

“They are a good team that does a lot of things really well and they don’t beat themselves,” Lux added. “We’re all pretty confident that we have what it takes. Our starting pitching is as good as anybody’s. We just have to get some timely hits.”

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