Cincinnati Reds fight back to take series opener from Minnesota Twins
The Cincinnati Reds' clutch muscle appears to have grown quite strong.
The Reds flexed that muscle Sunday against the MLB-best Detroit Tigers in a come-from-behind road win. They flexed it again Tuesday at Great American Ball Park as they rebounded twice from deficits to take the series opener from the Minnesota Twins at Great American Ball Park.
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The emergence of this clutch play by Cincinnati is coinciding with winning eight of their last 10 games, arguably their hottest run of 2025, and the appearance of a team with at least some of the ingredients needed to be a contender.
On Tuesday, T.J. Friedl's go-ahead, two-run double in the sixth inning proved decisive as the Reds won, 6-5, before a crowd of 26,153. That was one of several important cracks off the Reds' bats on a night when all six of their runs were scored with two outs, and when the Reds faced an early 1-0 deficit and later a 5-4 hole after a Christian Encarnacion-Strand error cracked the door open for the Twins to retake the lead.
"We did some good things," Reds manager Terry Francona said. "We made some mistakes, but we did some good things. They're in a good place where they're fighting. Again, it's not always gonna be perfect but they're fighting. I like that a lot."
Reds pitcher Scott Barlow (2-0) earned the win as Friedl's hit following his 1 1/3 innings of scoreless work. The ensuing save by Emilio Págan was his 17th, putting him in a tie for the sixth-most saves in baseball.
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Cincinnati improved to 38-35 with the victory, seven games behind the NL Central-leading Chicago Cubs and only 1 1/2 games out of the third wild-card spot.
The teams will meet Wednesday for the middle game of their series (7:10 p.m.) as Reds starter Nick Lodolo (4-5, 3.76 ERA) is scheduled to throw against the Twins' Bailey Ober (4-3, 4.40 ERA).
Byron Buxton enjoyed an interesting sequence of back-to-back plays on both sides of the ball. First, he robbed Will Benson of a home run at the wall in center field to end the second inning and then led off the top of the third inning with a homer of his own to almost the same part of the field where he made his defensive play.
Twins center fielder Byron Buxton kept the Reds from taking an early lead when he went above the wall to rob Will Benson of a solo home run in the second inning. Buxton came to the plate in the next half inning and homered for a 1-0 Twins lead.
Benson would have his revenge.
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The Reds were no-hit into the fourth inning when Benson hammered a two-run double to the left-center field wall.
Elly De La Cruz scored on the double. He was hitless but walked twice with a steal and a run scored. He lined out in the eighth inning on a screaming line drive to center field measured at 110 mph off the bat. De La Cruz's offensive performance certainly didn't hurt his MLB All-Star Game candidacy with his batting average at .270 and his OPS up to .845.
Now in front at 2-1, Cincinnati wasn't done in the fourth even though it probably should have been when Spencer Steer struck out for what should have been the third out of the at-bat. But Steer reached on a passed ball that rolled to the backstop after his swinging, third strike.
Given the proverbial extra out to play with, the Reds capitalized. Jake Fraley singled to drive in Benson and Steer for a 4-1 lead.
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National League All-Star candidate Andrew Abbott was cruising along in the meantime. The 4-1 lead was intact into the sixth inning, and Abbott was good enough to be out of that inning but for third baseman Encarnacion-Strand's error on a throw to first base on a routine ground ball.
TJ Friedl heads out of the batter's box after connecting on his two-run, sixth-inning double that capped the Reds' second comeback of the game in their 6-5 victory over the Minnesota Twins Tuesday, June. 17.
The throw pulled Steer off the bag, allowing Ty France to reach. Now, Minnesota had been gifted an out. They made it count.
Two singles followed France, the second of which was hit by Trevor Larnach and drove France in. Then, Harrison Bader clapped a three-run homer to right field.
Fraley got leather on the ball at the wall but couldn't secure the catch as the ball deflected off his glove, onto the top of the right-field wall and eventually over. The Twins led, 5-4.
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"I think it was a difficult play and he got turned around, and that made it more difficult," Francona said. "It's a shame because we get to the third out in the sixth and (Abbott's). We're thinking probably send him back out. Not only does that not happen but the inning got extended. You know, a three-run homer that goes off of Jake's glove. That was unfortunate."
Asked about Bader's homer run, Fraley said: "Sometimes you make plays and sometimes you don't and he hit it well. Didn't think that it was gonna go too far and then switched my hips and the realized 'OK, I'm probably gonna have to jump up over the wall here to get to it... Just didn't stick in the glove."
Fraley and Reds fired right back. Again with two outs, Fraley and Matt McLain singled to put runners on first and second. Friedl then lofted his double into right-center field to drive in both runners and retake the lead at 6-5.
Abbott was off the hook for a decision at that point. His record remained at 6-1 with a 1.84 ERA. Just one of the five runs against him was earned.
Reds starter Andrew Abbott couldn't get out of a messy sixth inning in which the Twins scored four runs, all unearned. Abbott pitched 5 2/3 innings, allowing five runs, one earned, on eight hits. He struck out five and walked none, lowering his ERA to 1.84.
"I credit our defense a lot. I'm still gonna sit here and credit them," Abbott said. "They've done a lot for me in every game up to this point. We all have our days. Those guys are gonna put in the work tomorrow and come back ready to go."
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Barlow tossed 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief. Tony Santillan added a scoreless inning with two strikeouts, and Págan closed the door.
"Barlow gave us four big outs," Francona said. "He was the biggest cog tonight. He really pitched well."
This story was updated to add a video.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati Reds take series opener from Minnesota Twins
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