CINCINNATI -- It almost felt like a car accident you could see developing in slow motion.
The Reds were poised for a feel-good win to claim a hard-fought five-game series on Thursday against the Cardinals. Matt McLain had slugged a go-ahead grand slam during a five-run sixth inning, and the bullpen deftly handled the seventh and eighth. So far, so good for Cincinnati.
Fill-in closer Brock Burke was on the verge of closing it for a save with two outs in the top of the ninth inning when JJ Wetherholt lofted what appeared to be a routine fly ball to left-center field.
Then came disaster.
Left fielder TJ Friedl camped under it while fighting the sun to see the ball, but he was called off late by center fielder Dane Myers and backed away. Just as it got awkward between the two fielders, the ball clanked off Myers' glove for an error that allowed two runs to score and put the Cardinals ahead.
“I shaded over a good bit. We had talked before the play that anything in that gap with how we were shaded was supposed to be mine," Myers explained. "I know the sun may have been tough. It was pretty loud for the last out of the game. I called him off and just didn’t make the play.”
Everything unraveled from there. St. Louis scored six runs while sending 11 batters to the plate as the Reds were eventually handed a demoralizing 10-9 loss at Great American Ball Park.
“It’s tough, especially at this point of the year, kind of feeling like you need every win, especially ones that we kind of have in hand like that one," Myers said.
Manager Terry Francona agreed when asked if it was one of the hardest ways to lose a game that he had experienced.
"I was kind of glad that Myers called him off. He just didn’t look it into his glove. Just glanced off," Francona said.
After an intentional walk, Burke gave up an Alec Burleson RBI single that went past first baseman Michael Toglia and into right field. Two more walks and a hit followed before the third out finally came.
In a remarkable almost-second comeback, the Reds responded with four runs against the St. Louis bullpen in the bottom of the ninth but fell just short. The final batter was McLain, who nearly became a hero for the second time.
With the bases loaded again, McLain's drive to right field was caught at the warning track by Jordan Walker.
“When you rifle a ball to right field like that, you’re doing a lot of things right fundamentally," Francona said. “They played very deep as an outfield to begin with, and then no doubles. I thought it had enough.”
In the end, it was another disappointment for the 61-67 Reds.
Cincinnati had only one hit over the first five innings but had come alive to rally in the bottom of the sixth inning. With one run in, McLain lifted a 2-2 Michael McGreevy splitter into the first rows of left field seats for a grand slam and a one-run lead.
“I was a little late on the fastball, so I was getting ready to go for his fastball, and then he left a splitter kind of up and I put a good swing on it," McLain said.
McLain has been searching -- and searching some more -- for most of the season to get sustained results at the plate. As Cincinnati has been looking for contributions beyond Elly De La Cruz and Sal Stewart, this renaissance is very welcome.
Normally the Reds' second baseman, McLain started at shortstop Thursday while De La Cruz served as the designated hitter. He is usually parked at or near the bottom of the order for most of this season but was moved up to the fifth spot by Francona.
The grand slam briefly put McLain's season batting average over .200 -- at .201 -- for the first time since June 26. After making the final out, he is batting .200 overall while going 12-for-45 (.267) over his past 14 games.
“Just know my approach, know my swing and just be ready to hit," McLain said.
Not surprisingly, McLain wasn't so keen on talking about personal success while the team was reeling from a hard loss.
“It’s tough," he said. "At the end of the day, that’s baseball. Nobody feels sorry for us, so we’ve got to go out there tomorrow ready to play, and that’s about it.”