Elly De La Cruz’s success ended the year with a win for the Reds

The Cincinnati Reds needed extra innings to get a win and avoid being defeated at the end of the year, but a game-tying hit by Elly De La Cruz led to two runs and opened a scoreless game. The bullpen did the rest, keeping the Chicago Cubs off the field in the bottom of the inning as Cincinnati secured the victory.

Hunter Greene took the mound for the final time this season and in just his second start after missing five weeks while on the injured list. He was 1-2-3 in the first inning but ran into trouble in the second inning when he walked the first two batters. Chicago made a sacrifice throw that put both runners up a sack, but then failed to get the job done and the Cubs left both runners stranded.

Greene threw a perfect pitch in the third inning, but ran into trouble again in the fourth inning after a leadoff single was followed by a walk. Similar to two innings before, the Reds and their starter were able to get around the baserunners and get out of the inning unscathed. That would be the end of the day for Greene as the club handed off to Fernando Cruz at the end of the 5th. He pitched 1.2 hitless innings before Brent Suter came off the bench to score the final out of the 6th with the first pitch he threw.

The game was still scoreless as the Reds continued to scoreless thanks to five shutout innings from starter Caleb Kilian and a perfect inning from Hayden Wesneski as the Ottoman Empire was still close. He returned for another inning and after Jake Fraley’s 1-out single, Weneski induced a groundball double play to end the inning.

Early in the 8th inning, Cincinnati’s offense became threatening after Elly De La Cruz scored on fielder’s choice and then stole second base. Tyler Stephenson gave up Spencer Steer with a two-out walk. After a 7-pitch battle with Keegan Thompson, that last pitch ended the day for Thompson after he appeared to suffer a foot injury. Chicago brought in Nate Pearson to end the at-bat against Steer, and his first pitch was a slider that Steer hit to end the inning.

Ian Gibaut took over for Cincinnati in the bottom of the 8th and gave up a leadoff single. He would get a fly out to follow but with Michael Busch at the plate the Reds called for a pitch out and they guessed correctly but a bad throw from Luke Maile was short and went to the third base side of the sack and Nico Hoerner was easily safe at second base. Busch walked after a 10-pitch fight — his fourth walk of the day. Gibaut managed to get a fly out and a ground out to put out both runners and send the game to 9th while the contest was still scoreless.

Cincinnati got a single bloop to start the 9th inning but couldn’t do anything else. Tony Santillan got the ball for the Reds at the end of the 9th. He did his job and needed just nine pitches to send the Cubs back to the dugout for their gloves and the 10th inning.

Noelvi Marte started the inning at second for the Reds and was picked off before a pitch was even thrown. Luke Maile then hit a single to left center. Cincinnati then sent Blake Dunn to secure the run for Maile, who was at the top of the lineup. Jonathan India followed with a walk, which led to a visit from the Cubs’ pitching coach to the mound to discuss a plan with Elly De La Cruz, who came to the plate.

De La Cruz used the first pitch to call a strike that was well below the zone. He then took a break ball for another shot that made the score 0-2. The third pitch was a breaking ball just below the zone, but De La Cruz didn’t take it and put it in the right field corner for a 2-run double that got him to third base on the throw and eventually a putt runs on the board. Tyler Stephenson then hit a single to center to score another run.

Buck Farmer, leading the Reds for the first time since September 21, took over in the bottom of the 10th inning. Ian Happ fumbled on a good play by Jonathan India early in the inning, but managed to get the runner to third base. Nico Hoerner popped up on the second pitch he saw, leaving Cincinnati just one shy of a win on the final day of the season. However, they couldn’t make it easy. Farmer walked Seiya Suzuki to bring in the game-winning run. Four pitches later, Michael Busch would fly out and end the season with a 3-0 Reds win.

Key moment of the game

Elly De La Cruz’s 2-run double to start the 10th inning.

Notable Notes

Hunter Greene’s four innings of 1-hit shutout baseball lowered his ERA to 2.75 this season. He threw a career-high 150.1 innings this year and allowed a career-low 96 hits.

Jake Fraley had a 3-hit day. Both Tyler Stephenson and Jonathan India had a day with 1 hit and 2 walks.

Elly De La Cruz stole two bases in the game, giving him 67 on the year.

The Reds took a 7-2 lead with runners in scoring position. Chicago went 0-10.

Cincinnati’s pitchers allowed just three hits on the day, but they walked more batters than they struck out – and handed out seven free passes on the day.

The Reds’ win gave them a half-game lead over the Pirates in the division. Pittsburgh’s game began with a rain delay and as of this writing, they are tied 4-4 with the Yankees. A loss would put them in last place alone, but a win would put them in last place with Cincinnati.

Next up are the Cincinnati Reds

The off-season. Hire a manager. Decide who should not be advertised. Find out who to add to the 40-man roster from the minor leagues. Add free agents. Make some trades.

Thank you to everyone who stopped by during the season. Many thanks to the other authors who contributed to the site throughout the year. We will continue to publish articles almost daily during the off-season. Hopefully everyone can enjoy the organization’s progress as the offseason takes shape.