Jonathan India hit a tiebreaking two-run homer and fell a triple shy of the cycle for the second time in six games while Joey Votto added a solo home run as the Cincinnati Reds beat the visiting Baltimore Orioles 8-2 on Saturday night.
Tyler Mahle (5-7) was the latest Cincinnati pitcher to showcase his talents in very effective fashion leading up to Tuesday’s trade deadline. One day after ace Luis Castillo was sent to Seattle for four highly regarded prospects, Mahle retired the final 13 batters he faced after allowing two runs in the first inning.
Jake Fraley, who will be getting more playing time in right field after Thursday’s trade of Tyler Naquin to the New York Mets, homered and earned his first career three-hit game.
Cincinnati pitching retired 19 straight before Adley Rutschman opened the ninth with an infield single.
Mahle struck out seven and walked none over six innings after allowing five hits to the Orioles the first time through the order.
Saturday marked the ninth quality start for Mahle in his last 12 outings.
The Orioles grabbed a 2-0 lead in the first when Rutschman scored on Anthony Santander’s single. Trey Mancini scored the second run on a Mahle balk.
In the bottom of the second, the Reds broke through against Baltimore starter and loser Dean Kremer (3-3) on Michael Papierski’s first career RBI, a single to right that scored Kyle Farmer.
After Fraley’s one-out single scored Nick Senzel in the fourth to tie the game at 2-2, India lofted a two-out homer to the seats in left for his seventh homer of the year and a 4-2 Cincinnati lead. India also fell a triple shy of the cycle in Monday’s 11-2 win over Miami.
Kremer was tagged for six runs and 10 hits over just 4 1/3 innings.
The game featured a bizarre play in the fifth inning, when Senzel singled off the left field wall but was ruled out between first and second base when Kyle Farmer, thinking the ball had been caught cleanly by Austin Hays, raced back to first base and ran back past Senzel. Senzel was ruled out immediately, and Farmer remained at first.
Moments later, Fraley homered to right to make it 7-2 Cincinnati. It was Fraley’s second blast of the season. Votto hit his 10th of the season earlier in the inning.
–Field Level Media
