Reds let early lead slip, strand key runners in wacky 10-inning loss

CINCINNATI – The way the Reds' offense has been going as of late, it only figures they were robbed of a game-tying home run in the bottom of the 10th by a matter of inches as Washington dealt the Reds a gut-punching 8-7 loss at Great American Ball Park Wednesday night.

No play reflects the way things have been going for the Reds more than what happened to Spencer Steer in the bottom of the 10th, trailing 8-6 with one out.

Steer belted what appeared to be a game-tying two-run homer off Washington reliever PJ Poulin that was caught by a fan at the yellow line along the left-field wall. But the play was ruled as fan interference, and Steer was credited with just a double after replay confirmed the call.

Crew chief Doug Eddings brought the three other umpires together and had New York take a close look at the call on the field to see if they got it right. Turns out, even Reds manager Terry Francona had to acknowledge it clearly appeared they did.

“We’ll never know, but it looked like they probably got it right,” Francona said of whether the ball might have hit the top of the wall and kicked into the stands for a home run. “I mean, they did everything. They went and looked. And it would have been hard to overturn that, in my opinion. [I] wish they would have, but it would have been hard.”

As for Steer, he actually never saw the back end of the play. Second base umpire Emil Jimenez had the best view and made the call immediately.

“Honestly, I was looking at the bag turning for two, so I didn't see it happen in real time,” Steer said. “Just saw the umpire kind of point to second, so I figured something happened, and haven't seen the replay or anything yet.”

But truth be told, this was a game that presented many winning opportunities to the Reds, and they simply failed to close the deal on their chances, including the moments after Steer’s double to score Sal Stewart. Steer moved to third on Nathaniel Lowe’s groundout. Tyler Stephenson walked to keep the inning alive, but Blake Dunn grounded out to second to end the game.

“We’ve just got to keep putting ourselves in situations like that, and sometimes they just don't go our way,” Stephenson said. “So we had opportunities, and got to move past them, and tomorrow's a new day. And the more opportunities that we can put ourselves into, the better the chances.”

In the seventh, Elly De La Cruz opened with a double and the Reds had runners on first and third with one out and could not score. In the ninth, Matt McLain opened with a double to left. Dane Myers popped up a bunt to the pitcher, De La Cruz flew out to deep left and Sal Stewart grounded out to short to kill that scoring chance as well.

In the 10th, Tony Santillan had another regrettable outing. He is finding his fastball, but his slider and secondary pitches are getting hit hard. Such was the case as Reds-killer Daylen Lile blasted a slider deep to right for a game-winning two-run homer.

Stephenson gave starter Nick Lodolo and the Reds a five-run cushion when he belted a Jake Irvin sinker off the message board facade in left for his third career grand slam – and his second against the Nationals. The key to the inning was an ABS challenge from Steer, who challenged a strike three call from home plate umpire Dexter Kelley that would’ve ended the inning. Instead, Steer eventually worked a walk, before Lowe walked to load the bases and Stephenson made it 5-0.

“Just trusting myself,” Steer said on his thought process when challenging the key pitch. “There's been a lot of pitches where I felt like they’re balls and didn't challenge, and I go back and look at them, and I was right. So I feel like I’ve got a pretty good awareness of where the zone is at the moment. So, just took a shot there, and then just kind of trusted my eyes, and was happy to get that one right.”

But instead of a fast start to a win, the Nationals immediately answered with four runs, highlighted by a two-run homer from Keibert Ruiz on a 94-mph four-seam fastball over the heart of the plate.

After cutting it to 5-4 in the second, the Nationals evened the score in the third when Lodolo issued the 15th bases-loaded walk by Cincinnati pitching this season, a dubious total that leads the Majors.

“Sometimes in a stretch that we've kind of been through, I feel like kind of everything that can go wrong will go wrong. So, we’ve got to come ready to work tomorrow and win a game,” Stephenson said.