Price unhappy Reds 'let up' in loss vs. Padres
CINCINNATI -- Rare is the time when Reds manager Bryan Price shows displeasure with his players publicly. On Saturday afternoon as his team gave away another large lead before a 9-7 loss to the Padres, Price told them exactly how he felt.
Price let reliever Tony Cingrani have it on the mound in the top of the seventh when Cingrani walked a batter after giving up a game-tying grand slam. After the third out, Price yelled at the players in the dugout.
"I don't think we are all supposed to be docile 100 percent of the time and just think that everything is OK when we aren't playing well, so I got angry," Price said.
Cincinnati led 4-0 after three innings, 6-1 after the fourth and 7-3 with two outs in the seventh.
For the fourth time in six games, the bullpen blew a lead in the later innings. And similar to Wednesday's 5-4 walk-off loss at Philadelphia, a four-run lead was given away.
"There were a handful of things," Price said. "We didn't throw strikes. We had a couple of issues on the bases that could have kept innings going, got us another couple of runs, and I don't think there's any team that's good enough not to take advantage of every scoring opportunity and every opportunity to shut down an inning. My mantra all year is I think we're a better team. Today was a game that was there to win and we should have won that game."
Video: SD@CIN: Alonso ties the game with a grand slam
Reds relievers Ryan Mattheus, Cingrani and Jumbo Diaz combined to allow six runs and issue five walks in the seventh and eighth innings.
When Mattheus loaded the bases, Cingrani took over and saw Yonder Alonso hit his 3-2 pitch for a grand slam that just cleared the right-field fence. Price emerged from the dugout after Cingrani walked the next batter, Will Middlebrooks.
Cingrani tried to hand the ball to a furious Price, who didn't want it.
"I was just irritated by the aftermath," Price said. "The grand slam wasn't the thing that was irritating. I just wanted us to continue to compete. There are deflating moments in games. And we've had our share this year where we've had leads later in the game and they've evaporated. You know what? That's baseball. But there can never be a time where we back off or that we give in.
"I don't want anyone to concede anything on this team. I want to fight for every out we get. I want to fight for every base hit we get and every run we get. There were things today where we could have taken advantage of things and we didn't. We let up. We let off the gas and it cost us the ballgame. That will never be acceptable."
Before the Reds batted in the bottom of the seventh, Price raised his ire in the dugout.
"Just trying to get us going, that's all," said Reds third baseman Todd Frazier, who had three RBIs. "Trying to bring a lot of energy. It's just something that was needed and tried to put a fire under us a little bit. I mean, we had it, but stuff happened and as a team we got to come together basically, that's all he's saying."