CINCINNATI -- As things have crossed from urgent to desperate for the fading Reds, not only do they need big hits, they must play clean baseball. On Friday night during a 7-5 loss in 10 innings to the Cardinals at Great American Ball Park, they didn't get enough of either.
Shortstop Elly De La Cruz committed two more errors, including a throwing error in the top of the 10th inning of a 5-5 game that pushed across the go-ahead run.
“The last play was a do-or-die. We didn’t make it," manager Terry Francona said.
Reds reliever Tony Santillan had two outs and a runner on third base in the top of the 10th inning when Willson Contreras hit a slow chopper on the grass. De La Cruz scooped up the ball, but his sidearm throw to first base went in the dirt. Spencer Steer was unable to scoop it.
“Just happens. I made a bad throw, but it’s just baseball," said De La Cruz, who also made a second-inning fielding error on a Jordan Walker ground ball.
De La Cruz has a Major League-leading 22 errors, with five in his past six games.
Masyn Winn followed with an RBI single for a two-run Cardinals lead. The Reds (68-67) have lost four in a row and seven of their past eight games, falling to five games behind the scorching-hot Mets for the third National League Wild Card spot.
"Especially after being swept by L.A., that definitely sucked. All the games finishing out are important. It kind of sucks to lose out on tonight, for sure," third baseman Ke'Bryan Hayes said. "I feel like we’re working as best we can in our preparation and practice, but I think we’ve just got to take care of the ball a little bit more.”
Including a three-game series sweep by the Dodgers -- their first time being swept this season -- the Reds have gone 3-for-29 with runners in scoring position over their past four games. That included 2-for-13 on Friday. They were able to tie the game twice late after falling behind but missed out on the big put-away hit.
Down 4-2 in the sixth inning, the Reds got a leadoff home run to left field from Steer against Cardinals starter Matthew Liberatore. In the seventh against reliever Gordon Graceffo, Elly De La Cruz hit a leadoff triple and scored the tying run on Miguel Andujar's sharply-hit single to center field through a drawn-in infield.
After St. Louis scored in the top of the eighth inning, Hayes' leadoff home run in the bottom of the eighth made it a 5-5 game.
“Sometimes we -- myself included -- we try to get too big of a hit instead of just trying to hit the ball hard -- low, hard on the line," he said. "The home runs and the doubles are going to come. As we keep going, we just have to figure out how to scratch those tough runs across whenever we have two outs. Stuff like that.”
Obviously sensing the situation, Francona managed like it was an elimination game in the postseason. When starting pitcher Zack Littell struggled in the early innings -- including allowing two homers -- and the Reds trailed 4-2 in the third inning, the bullpen began stirring.
In the sixth inning after Steer's homer, the Reds had runners on first and second base and no outs. With Jose Trevino in scoring position, Francona had Will Benson pinch-run. But after Santiago Espinal's sacrifice bunt, the rally ended with no more runs.
The Reds had one more shot to take the game in the bottom of the 10th against reliever Ryan Fernandez. Pinch-hitter Gavin Lux's leadoff walk brought the winning run to the plate with no outs, but TJ Friedl struck out before Noelvi Marte flied out to center field.
De La Cruz struck out to end the game.
"We need to be picking up games whenever we get the opportunity to," said Littell, who recovered nicely and retired his final 14 batters in a row. "The Mets are playing well. San Diego has been playing well for a bit now. I think every guy in here has a little bit of a sense of urgency to go out there and compete every night.
“I think we’ve kind of given a few away here lately that we probably should have won. But I think this team knows there’s better baseball to be played, and now is the time to do it for sure.”