The Cincinnati Reds flexed some muscle on offense, but were foiled by a flood of errors and miscues on Friday as they fell 7-4 to the Philadelphia Phillies to teeter on the brink of post-season elimination.
After being no-hit by Roy Halladay in the opener of their best-of-five Division Series, the Reds took a 4-0 lead, but were undone by four errors, three hit batsmen and a bases-loaded walk that fueled a comeback that included five unearned runs.
The victory gave Philadelphia a 2-0 lead, with the Reds in a do-or-die situation when the series shifts to Cincinnati for Game 3 today.
Two runs in the fifth inning, one run in the sixth and three more in the seventh made a winner of Jose Contreras, the third reliever to follow Phillies starter Roy Oswalt to the mound.
“In my mind, we lost the game. We outplayed them,” sorely disappointed Cincinnati manager Dusty Baker said. “We ended up giving them most of their runs.”
After shaky Reds play allowed the Phillies to get within 4-3, the dam burst in the seventh inning as the hosts scored three unearned runs off hard-throwing Cuban rookie Aroldis Chapman, who consistently hit 160kph on his fastball.
The inning started on what might have been a phantom hit-by-pitch that put Chase Utley on first base.
“At that point, I’m just trying to get on base,” Utley said. “Either I heard it hit me, or I felt something. I ran to first, put my head down and no one said anything.”
After Ryan Howard struck out on three blazing fastballs, Jayson Werth grounded to third baseman Scott Rolen who tried to force Utley at second base. The umpire ruled him safe in a bang-bang play.
“We got the benefit of the doubt,” Utley said.
That brought up Jimmy Rollins, who hit a soft liner toward right-fielder Jay Bruce, who lost the ball in the lights and missed what should have been a routine catch.
When second baseman Brandon Phillips dropped the relay throw, a second run was scored.
Another fielder’s choice grounder then made it 6-4.
Philadelphia tacked another run on their total in the eighth inning.
“Bruce is a Gold Glove outfielder. Brandon Phillips is Gold Glove second baseman and Scott Rolen is a Gold Glove third baseman,” lamented Baker, whose team tied for the National League lead for fewest errors in the regular season. “That was a very uncommon night for us.”
Cincinnati, the league’s top offensive club during the season, immediately shook off the effects of Halladay’s gem when Phillips led off the game with a home run.
The Reds scored a run in the second without the benefit of a hit thanks to two throwing errors by second baseman Utley, added another run on Bruce’s homer into the second deck in right in the fourth and scored one more in the fifth.
Then came the Reds’ nightmare stretch.
A pair of two-out errors in the fifth by the normally sure-handed Reds infield let the Phillies back in the game despite a strong outing by Cincinnati starter Bronson Arroyo.
With a man on first and two out, Shane Victorino hit a hard grounder to Phillips, who failed to handle it. Placido Polanco followed with another sharp grounder to Rolen, who failed to convert it into an out.
With the bases loaded, Utley lined a single to right to score two runs and whittle the lead to 4-2.
Philadelphia got a run closer in the sixth inning without a hit.
Back-to-back hit batters loaded the bases with two outs as Arthur Rhodes plunked Carlos Ruiz with a two-strike pitch on the left knee and pinch-hitter Ben Francisco was hit on the bill of the helmet by Logan Ondrusek.
Ondrusek then walked Victorino to force in a run.
Then came the unlucky seventh inning that left the Reds with no margin for error.
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