The Cincinnati Reds scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning for the second straight game, beating the visiting Chicago Cubs 2-1 on Saturday night.
With the Reds trailing 1-0, Jake Fraley led off the ninth with a double against Cubs reliever Mark Leiter Jr. (1-3), and pinch runner Harrison Bader stole third. After TJ Friedl walked and Spencer Steer was hit by a pitch to load the bases, Elly De La Cruz singled home the tying run.
Leiter got a flyout for the first out and was pulled for Jose Cuas. Hunter Renfroe, like Bader a recent waiver wire pickup, grounded into a walk-off fielder’s choice by barely beating the throw to first to avoid a double play as the Reds won for the third time in four games.
Cincinnati (71-67) came into Saturday’s National League Central matchup three games behind second-place Chicago (72-64) in the division and a game behind Arizona and San Francisco in the wild-card race.
The win also assured the Reds a season series win over the Cubs and an accompanying tiebreaker between the teams if needed in the postseason picture.
Despite getting seven hits and a walk off Cubs starter Javier Assad, the Reds could not scratch across a run in his eight innings. Assad struck out seven and left with a 1-0 lead courtesy of Jeimer Candelario’s seventh-inning home run.
Candelario’s blast was the lone blemish for Cincinnati starter Andrew Abbott, who struck out five and limited Chicago to four hits and two walks over 6 1/3 innings.
The Cubs had an opportunity to tack on insurance runs in the top of the ninth when Sam Moll (1-3), credited with the win, faced Nick Madrigal with runners on second and third. But Moll induced a groundout to keep the Reds deficit at one run.
De La Cruz’s single capped a 3-for-4 day. Fraley and Steer each had two hits for the Reds. The Cubs finished with five hits off four Cincinnati pitchers. Cincinnati also assured itself no worse than a split of the critical four-game series.
–Field Level Media
