CINCINNATI — Reds manager David Bell makes the decisions, but it’s up to his players to make his choices look good. On Saturday during a 7-4 victory over the Marlins, the Reds made Bell’s moves look really good. It helped give Cincinnati (68-57) — which entered the night tied with the Padres for a Wild Card spot — its third straight win over Miami and the series victory.
It was a 2-2 game in the bottom of the sixth inning when the Reds rallied for four runs against right-handed reliever Anthony Bender. Following a leadoff single by Jonathan India, he motored to third base on hot-hitting Tyler Naquin’s double to right-center field. Nick Castellanos, who slugged a first-inning two-run homer in a four RBI night, hit a groundout to shortstop that scored India.
Joey Votto was intentionally walked and as Kyle Farmer batted, Bell had the slumping Mike Moustakas, a lefty hitter, on deck to pinch-hit. As lefty reliever Steven Okert was warming up in the bullpen, Farmer walked to load the bases. Instead of using Moustakas and likely knowing Okert would be called in, the Reds sent up right-handed pinch-hitter Tyler Stephenson instead.
“It’s a good situation no matter what. Tyler has shown that he welcomes those situations, he’s not intimidated by anything,” Bell said. “It comes down to understanding the whole situation and the left-hander up there. Do I believe Mike Moustakas can hit left-handers? Absolutely. Because of that, sometimes you’ve got to have tiebreakers in your decision making. We went to Tyler right there, he came through like he has so many times.”
On an 0-1 pitch from Bender, Stephenson hit a two-run double to deep right field that landed inside the foul line to make it a four-run lead for Cincinnati. That moved him into the Major League with 12 RBIs as a pinch-hitter this season.
“Instead of just burning Moose potentially if they brought in the lefty for me, David told me, ‘Hey, you’re up.’ OK, here we go,” Stephenson said. “Just really looked for a good pitch. The guy threw a lot of sinkers, and threw hard so I tried to ambush him early to get something up, elevated. I fouled the first ball off. I got one that kind of flattened out over the zone and drove it the other way. Just tried to simplify it as much as possible.”
In the fifth inning with a 2-0 lead, Reds starter Wade Miley ran into trouble with two outs when his walk to Miguel Rojas loaded the bases. Jazz Chisholm Jr. was hit by a pitch to force in a run and Jesus Aguilar’s walk brought home the tying run.
Bell pulled Miley and turned to right-handed reliever Luis Cessa. Miley, who turned his left ankle in the fourth inning but continued, was furious as he left the mound.
“He was frustrated because he wants to pitch,” Bell said. “He goes out there with every intention to go as deep into the game as he can.”
There have been times earlier this season when turning the game over to the Reds bullpen would require holding one’s breath and awaiting the outcome. This time, it worked well.
On his first pitch, Lewis Brinson hit a shallow fly ball to center field. Shogo Akiyama, who just entered with Cessa in a double switch, ran in and made a spectacular sliding catch to keep the game tied.
“I was ready and prepared more than usual, especially with that first pitch,” Akiyama said via translator Luke Shinoda. “And I was able to get that first step and it was obvious that I was able to help the team with that sliding catch and grateful that I was able to help the team there.”
Said Bell: “That play changed the game. You never know what would happen there. Coming off the bench is even more difficult, and Shogo is doing a great job staying ready and doing what he can to help our team.”
Cessa pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings and earned the victory.
“Cessa did a nice job in that inning, came back and had another important scoreless inning after that,” Bell said.
Tony Santillan followed with a scoreless seventh. Mychal Givens, who came in without allowing a run in his previous 12 appearances between the Rockies and Reds, opened the eighth inning by allowing two walks and a one-out RBI double.
Called in for a five-out save attempt, Michael Lorenzen gave up an RBI single, but escaped with a 6-4-3 double play by Bryan De La Cruz. Shortstop prospect Jose Barrero, who entered with Lorenzen in the double switch and played second base for the first time in the big leagues, rushed a hard one-hop throw to first base to get De La Cruz.
“It was a great job,” Bell said of Lorenzen. “Mychal Givens has been unbelievable since he has been here for us. He pitched last night. [There is] extreme confidence in Mychal Givens. Tonight I recognized early, maybe, it wasn’t the exact same stuff that we’ve seen. He pitched last night, got Michael Lorenzen up knowing he had the ability and the rest to go that many outs to close out a game was a big part of the decision. Not many guys can do that, and we’ve seen Michael do it.”
