Following their most electrifying win of the season, the Cincinnati Reds will look to finish a sweep of the visiting New York Yankees when the clubs wrap up their three-game series Wednesday night.
On Tuesday night, the Reds pulled off their first win in 31 tries this season when trailing after six innings. Top Cincinnati prospect Chase Burns, making his major league debut, provided some of the electricity in the game, striking out eight batters, including the first five.
With the Reds down 3-0 heading into the seventh, Christian Encarnacion-Strand tied the game with a one-out, three-run double. After the Yankees scored in the top of the 11th, the Reds answered with a pair of runs for the 5-4 win, sending the crowd of 39,257 into a frenzy.
The Reds have won three straight after a three-game skid and now have won five of their past six series. Cincinnati has been on a tear since a 9-1 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers on June 4, winning 12 of 17 games.
“We had a good kind of sit-down with everybody, and I feel like since then, that’s when we’ve been kind of playing our version of baseball that we know we can play,” Reds catcher Tyler Stephenson said after the win on Tuesday. “So it’s contagious. We’ve got the group, we’re all pulling for each other, and it’s fun, and we’re having fun. Usually good things happen, so just keep having fun, and there’s a lot of joy coming into the park every day.”
The Reds will send right-hander Brady Singer (7-5, 4.13 ERA) to the mound on Wednesday to make his 16th start of the season. Last Friday in St. Louis, he suffered the 6-1 defeat. Singer allowed four hits and just one run over six innings, throwing 102 pitches in sweltering heat.
Singer will make his seventh career start against the Yankees. He is 0-2 with a 5.23 ERA in his previous six appearances.
The Yankees will counter with left-hander Max Fried (9-2, 2.05 ERA), making his 17th start of the season.
Last Friday, Fried received a no-decision against Baltimore in the Yankees’ 5-3 loss after giving up three runs on seven hits in six innings. It was his 12th quality start of the season.
Fried will make his sixth career appearance and fourth start versus the Reds. His is 2-2 with a 4.58 ERA against them.
The Yankees have lost nine of their past 12 games. In the drought, they have only 34 runs. Tuesday’s loss dropped them to 1-6 in extra innings this year, including 0-5 on the road.
Their loss, combined with the Tampa Bay Rays’ 5-1 win over the Kansas City Royals, took New York’s lead down to one game in the American League East.
On June 1, the Yankees had a 5 1/2-game lead in the division.
“We’re not playing that great, but we’ve got to learn from it,” Yankees captain Aaron Judge said. “We’ve got a lot of winners in this clubhouse, and guys who know how to move on from tough stretches. We’ve done that before.”
–Field Level Media
