Cincinnati Reds drop finale to Washington Nationals, lose four times on homestand

Yahoo

04-05-2025

The Cincinnati Reds departed for their next road trip on a losing note.
The Reds never led against the Washington Nationals on Sunday at Great American Ball Park, and the Nationals' bats came alive for three runs in the seventh inning to take the game, 4-1, before a crowd of 23,494.
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The scheduled 4:10 p.m. game was delayed by rain for 21 minutes, marking the fourth straight game the Reds had a rain delay. The club amassed more than four hours worth of delays, plus a rain postponement in the last week.
Luis Garcia Jr.'s seventh inning solo home run broke a 1-1 deadlock and proved decisive. Reliever Graham Ashcraft was eventually charged with three runs in the seventh inning as he picked up the loss (2-3).
Elly De La Cruz beats the throw to first base on a fielder's choice in the first inning of the Reds' 4-1 loss to the Washington Nationals. The Reds lost four of seven games on the homestand.
Cincinnati's record fell to 18-17 as the Reds lost four of seven games on their now-concluded homestand. The Reds split their four-game series with the St. Louis Cardinals and lost two out of three to the Nationals.
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Cincinnati will embark on a seven-game road trip followed by an off day May 12. The road trip begins Monday at the Atlanta Braves' Truist Park for four games and continues against the Houston Astros for three games at Daikin Park in Houston. The Astros will host the Milwaukee Brewers for three games before the Reds arrive.
Reds Nationals series Cincinnati Reds roughed up by the Washington Nationals
The Braves were 14-18 ahead of their Sunday Night Baseball matchup with the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Dodgers took the first two games of the series.
On Sunday, the Astros fell to 17-16 in a rain-shortened, seven-inning loss to the Chicago White Sox.
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On Sunday in Cincinnati, Washington opened the scoring in the second inning. Nathaniel Lowe led off the inning with a double and later scored on Luis Garcia Jr.'s sacrifice fly.
The Reds would answer in the bottom of the frame on Tyler Stephenson's 365-foot solo home run to left field.
Both pitchers settled in and seemed to cruise through the middle innings, which included playing a period of run in the fourth through sixth innings.
In the fifth inning, Nationals starter MacKenzie Gore slipped on the mound during a battle with Elly De La Cruz that eventually ended with a walk. The slip necessitated a brief stoppage so grounds-crew members could tend to the mound and the area around home plate.
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Earlier in the at-bat with De La Cruz, it appeared the Reds shortstop had hit a go-ahead two-run homer down the left field line for a 3-1 Reds lead. Third base umpire Sean Barber called the ball fair and fireworks were ignited, but De La Cruz was eventually made to return to the plate to continue the at-bat.
The umpires conferred and ruled the hit a foul ball. A replay review confirmed that.
De La Cruz stretched his career-best on-base streak to 23 games in one of the few Reds highlights of Sunday's contest.
Gore (no decision) would get out of the inning even though he bounced some pitches into catcher Keibert Ruiz, but the fifth was Gore's final frame of work. He allowed four hits, one run, four walks and had nine strikeouts.
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Reds starter Nick Martinez (no decision) lasted six innings, allowing just one run and striking out six.
Ashcraft entered the game in relief in the seventh, and allowed a one-out, 379-foot solo homer to Garcia Jr.
Ashcraft ran into traffic after that, too, and departed having record only two outs. Reliever Taylor Rogers then came on with runners on the corners, and he allowed a C.J. Abrams double that plated both runners.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Reds drop finale to Nationals, lose four times on homestand