There were eight home runs hit in the game in Colorado on Sunday afternoon. Tyler Stephenson hit two of them as part of a 3-hit day for the Reds catcher. That helped Cincinnati to a 9-6 win over the Rockies as they secured a series victory.
Elly De La Cruz began the game by lining the second pitch of the game into center for a single. That set the tone for the early part of the game. JJ Bleday would draw a walk with one out and then both guys would score on a 3-run home run by Nathaniel Lowe. Eugenio Suarez followed up with a single and then he scored when Tyler Stephenson clobbered a 2-run home run to extend the lead to 5-0.
Colorado got one of those runs back in the bottom of the frame when Hunter Goodman hit a solo home run off of Hunter Greene. Cincinnati went right back to work in the 2nd inning. Dane Myers led off with a double and Elly De La Cruz followed up with a walk. Sal Stewart then took the first pitch he saw and hit a 456-foot home run to dead center to make it 8-1.
Things slowed down for both offenses from there for a bit. In the top of the 5th inning Tyler Stephenson would hit his 2nd home run of the game, pulling a long home run into the left field stands to make it 9-1. Hunter Greene had been cruising since he allowed the 1st inning homer to Hunter Goodman, but in the 6th inning he gave up a leadoff single and then saw Goodman hit his 2nd homer of the day to make it 9-3.
That’s where the score remained until the bottom of the 8th inning. Sam Moll began the inning with back-to-back groundouts but then saw a single followed up by a home run – the third of the game for Hunter Goodman – that cut the Reds leads down to 9-5.
Emilio Pagan headed to the mound for the bottom of the 9th and immediately gave up a home run to Willi Castro. Kyle Karros then followed up with a single as a game that was once loitering in blow out city was beginning to feel dicey. Pagan locked in from there, though, and retired the next three batters in order to seal both the win on the day and a series victory for Cincinnati.
Key Moment of the Game
The Reds 3-run 2nd inning. After a big 1st they didn’t let off of the gas and added on to build a big lead.
Notes Worth Noting
Tyler Stephenson went 3-4 with a double and two home runs. That’s 10 total bases in the game, which is the most by a Reds catcher since Ryan Lavarnway had 10 in his 1st game with Cincinnati back in 2019 when he also homered twice and doubled. Those were the last two home runs of Lavanrway’s career and he only played in 18 big league games after that (four with Cincinnati, five with Miami, and nine with Cleveland).
Along with Stephenson, Nathaniel Lowe and Sal Stewart all drove in three runs on the day and all of those runs came on home runs.
Hunter Greene only allowed four hits on the day in his 6.0 innings and he struck out seven batters with no walks. He now has 26 strikeouts and five walks in his first three starts back this season.
Brock Burke’s perfect 7th inning lowered his ERA on the year to 2.89 on the season in his 46.2 innings pitched.
Up Next for the Cincinnati Reds
Cincinnati Reds vs Seattle Mariners
Saturday July 20th, 9:40pm ET
Andrew Abbott (5-5, 4.11 ERA) vs George Kirby (7-8, 3.76 ERA)
