Brewers series showed where the Reds need to button it up

New York Times

6 hours ago

CINCINNATI — On Sunday, the Cincinnati Reds played a cleaner game than the Milwaukee Brewers and won, snapping the Brewers' 14-game winning streak.
The Brewers' overall domination of the Reds continued, despite the Reds taking the final game of the three-game series. Milwaukee has now won 13 straight series against the Reds, 44 of the past 61 games, and 33 of 45 games at Great American Ball Park.
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The Brewers aren't just beating up on the Reds; they've got baseball's best record at 78-45 and have shown that good baseball wins baseball games.
Milwaukee's roster doesn't look like anything that would win a fantasy baseball league, but by watching the team on the field, you can see why they win games on the field. To paraphrase something fictional manager Joe Riggins tells his team in 'Bull Durham,' the Brewers throw the ball (their 3.59 ERA is the third-best in baseball), they hit the ball (their .259 batting average is the second-best in baseball) and they catch the ball (their .712 defensive efficiency is fourth-best in baseball). They also have 135 stolen bases, the second-most in the game.
The team that made fewer mistakes came out on top in all three games against the Reds.
In the first game, failure to turn a double play and an error at second base by Gavin Lux extended innings for the Brewers to erase a seven-run deficit. Saturday, it was a ball misplayed by Noelvi Marte in right field and errors by Elly De La Cruz and Jake Fraley that aided the Brewers' victory.
Sunday, though, the Reds played the 'clean' baseball manager Terry Francona has talked about all season, and it was the Brewers who made the mistakes. They had a runner thrown out stealing, had a costly error in the ninth, and got the lead runner thrown out at third base in the 10th inning on a sacrifice bunt attempt.
The Reds have the pitching and have upgraded their defense this season, especially at the trade deadline with the addition of third baseman Ke'Bryan Hayes.
Still, De La Cruz's 17 errors lead the majors, even if he can make some plays others don't.
The Reds also have 13 outfield errors, tied for the eighth most.
They are playing more controlled baseball than they did in their 'creating havoc' style in 2023, which leads to fewer outs on the bases, but also fewer opportunities created and less pressure on the opposing team.
The Reds still trail the New York Mets in the NL wild-card race, having lost ground with their series loss. They can stay in the hunt for the third wild card, but they'll need to do something they struggled with this weekend against baseball's best team — play clean baseball.
Before Sunday's series finale against the Brewers, the Reds designated outfielder Jake Fraley for assignment and called up outfielder Will Benson from Triple-A Louisville to take his spot.
While Fraley left Saturday night's game after he hyper-extended his knee in the 10th inning, allowing the go-ahead run to score, Francona said Fraley checked out OK and wouldn't have been DFA'd if he were headed to the injured list. Instead, the decision on Fraley came down to not playing short-handed in a crucial part of the season. Catcher Tyler Stephenson is dealing with a sore thumb on his left (glove) hand, which is why Jose Trevino caught Sunday afternoon's game following his start Saturday night.
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Fraley, 30, was hitting .232/.332/.387 with six home runs. In his four seasons with the Reds, Fraley hit .260/.336/.421 with 38 home runs, but he's struggled to stay healthy. He was making $3.125 million this season. Fraley would've been eligible for arbitration for the final time this offseason, and with a surplus of left-handed-hitting outfielders, he was a likely non-tender candidate.
'I think the idea (was) giving Jake a chance to play where maybe he thinks he deserves to play, which I understand. (It) is maybe better than him sitting the bench here.'
Fraley came over to the Reds as part of the deal that sent Jesse Winker and Eugenio Suárez to the Seattle Mariners before the 2022 season.
'I don't think there's ever an easy (cut), regardless of how guys are,' Francona said of Fraley, a popular figure in the Reds' clubhouse. 'You're making decisions that alter their life, and it's a big deal. We take it that way. Not that I needed an excuse to lose sleep last night, but you do, because you think about it the whole time.'
Hayes came to Cincinnati with a stellar reputation as perhaps the game's best defensive third baseman. In his two-plus weeks with the Reds, he's outperformed that reputation.
Saturday night, with the tying run on third base in the eighth inning, Hayes made yet another great play, squashing a squeeze bunt attempt by Caleb Durbin by charging from third base, bare-handing the ball and uncorking a perfect, off-balance throw to first base.
It's the kind of play that Brewers manager Pat Murphy has seen too many times from Hayes as a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates, and one he said he expects to see more of with the Reds.
'Hayes was great tonight,' Murphy said following Saturday's Brewers victory. 'He's been overshadowed because of (Nolan) Arenado, but you want to talk about an incredible defender.'
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Murphy called the Reds' move to acquire Hayes a shrewd one.
'He's showing what he can do offensively,' Murphy said after Hayes not only hit a home run but also a game-tying double in the 10th inning Saturday. 'I think (Francona) will get a ton out of him, and I think he's an incredible pickup for the Reds. It hurts my heart that they did that. You want to talk about my heart? When I heard they signed Hayes … I love the player.'
My dad's favorite writer was Lewis Grizzard, the longtime Atlanta Journal-Constitution columnist. I remember him getting every new Grizzard collection of his columns and breaking it open right away to read and laugh and laugh and laugh. This was before my family had any connection with the state of Georgia. I'd go on to Grizzard's beloved University of Georgia and get a deeper understanding of what UGA meant to Grizzard and vice-versa.
That's a long intro to say that I think Reds fans probably feel a lot like Grizzard after the 1984 Georgia-Georgia Tech football game, a 35-18 Tech victory over a ranked UGA team at Sanford Stadium. Grizzard penned what I believe to be the greatest sports column ever written — not for its prose, but for the sheer audacity to turn it in and sum up the feelings of hundreds of thousands in eight words:
RT @JenBrettAJC: The great @ajc columnist Lewis Grizzard filed column from heaven after yesterday's #GTvsUGA game. pic.twitter.com/wO5daVp7gK
— UGA Libraries (@ugalibs) November 30, 2014
'Frankly, I don't want to talk about it.'
This was a week that saw the Reds go .500, continue their streak of avoiding sweeps, take a series from a first-place team, watch their deficit in the NL wild-card race shrink, and see an impressive return from their Opening Day starter. And then the big, bad Brewers came to town and left it like, well, Sherman left Atlanta.
The Reds leave for a three-city, nine-game road trip to face the Los Angeles Angels and Arizona Diamondbacks before finishing with three games back in Los Angeles against the Dodgers.
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That's not the only three-city, nine-game trip left on the schedule, as the team will go from San Diego to Sacramento to St. Louis next month. The last trip is to the house of horrors that is American Family Field in Milwaukee.
The only bit of respite from the schedule is that the team's next three Thursdays are scheduled off days. However, if the Speedway Classic taught us nothing else, it's don't count your off days before they hatch.
• LHP Wade Miley (left flexor strain) returned from his rehab assignment after his start Friday for Double-A Chattanooga. Miley gave up a run on a homer in 1 2/3 innings Friday, with two strikeouts and two walks, but reported soreness Saturday.
• RHP Rhett Lowder (right forearm strain/left oblique strain) was scheduled to throw a bullpen on Sunday.
• Triple-A Louisville (53-67): In this week's Sal Stewart update, the infielder went 8-for-22 with a pair of homers and eight RBIs, including two in Sunday's loss. His first RBI came in the first with a single off rehabbing Chris Sale. Stewart is hitting .324/.397/.627 with six home runs and 13 doubles in 27 games at Triple A. Between Double A and Triple A, Stewart is hitting .311/.382/.513 with 16 homers and 32 doubles.
• Double-A Chattanooga (60-49): RHP Trevor Kuncl recorded his Southern League-leading 18th save in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader sweep. Kuncl, 26, signed as a minor-league free agent last year. He's appeared in 36 games for the Lookouts and is 2-0 with a 1.83 ERA. Hitters are batting just .199 against him, and he has 39 strikeouts in 39 1/3 innings with 15 walks.
• High-A Dayton (35-75): RHP Tejay Antone, who underwent his third elbow surgery in April 2024, made his full-season debut this week, appearing in two games for the Dragons. Antone pitched a scoreless inning with a walk and a strikeout on Wednesday, then threw 1 2/3 innings Saturday, allowing a hit and a walk, hitting a batter, but striking out two without giving up a run.
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• Class-A Daytona (55-59): CF Kyle Henley went 3-for-5 with a double and a walk-off single in Sunday's 8-7 victory over Fort Myers (Twins), extending the Tortugas' winning streak to eight. Daytona is 26-22 in the second half and in second place in the Florida State League East Division standings. St. Lucie (Mets) won the first half and has a seven-game lead on the Tortugas in the second half, while the Tortugas lead Palm Beach (Cardinals) by 2.5 games. Because St. Lucie won the first half, the second-half playoff spot goes to the team with the next-best winning percentage in the second half. Eighteen games remain in the second half.
(Top photo of Austin Hays: Katie Stratman / Imagn Images)
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