This story was excerpted from Mark Sheldon's Reds Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
CINCINNATI -- Long duels between pitcher and hitter can create some of the most excitement and drama during a game. In a span of two plate appearances on Friday vs. the Cubs, the Reds' Tyler Stephenson saw 21 pitches against lefty starter Matthew Boyd.
“Obviously, I’m trying to put some balls in play and just continue to fight during the at-bat," Stephenson said on Saturday.
As Cincinnati's designated hitter during the three-run bottom of the first inning of a 13-6 loss to Chicago, Stephenson fell into an 0-2 count before taking a high fastball for ball one. He fouled four more pitches and eventually worked a walk on the 10th pitch to load the bases.
With one out in the third inning and in a full count, Stephenson fouled off five straight pitches. On the 11th pitch from Boyd, he took a called strike three on the inside corner that appeared to be a ball.
"I saw a lot of pitches and thought I was going to end up with two walks," Stephenson said. "But I still take that as a quality at-bat and I’ll just continue to battle and stay alive and do the best that I can to put something in play or take a walk.”
On his third time up vs. reliever Julian Merryweather, Stephenson launched a first-pitch slider and just missed a home run. He ended up with an RBI double off the wall in left-center field.
"Which I don’t think was surprising," manager Terry Francona said. "It’s hard to do that and not feel better as you go. I know when it’s happening to us, I’m thinking, ‘Oh man, if you don’t make a good pitch here, you’re in trouble.’ It doesn’t mean you’re going to get a hit but you get more dangerous, I think, as you go.”
According to TruMedia, Reds hitters have worked 10-plus pitch plate appearances eight times this season -- including four over the past week. Elly De La Cruz is the club leader with three such marathon at-bats, two of which resulted in hits. Although Cincinnati's offense has alternated between bountiful and sparse this season, it ultimately can lead to positive outcomes in the big picture.
But mentally, it's taxing for the hitter while in the moment. Factoring in the pitch clock adds another dimension.
"Especially if you use the timeout early, it can be pretty rushed during those times," Stephenson said. "You start fouling pitches off and you’ve got maybe three or four seconds to kind of refocus and get back in there."
Said Francona: “Now with the pitch clock, it gets difficult. We used to have all these ways to reset and refocus. Now you can’t do that.”
It's no picnic for the pitcher either. Boyd's pitch count ballooned and he was out of the game after four innings.
The Cubs also turned the tables on Reds starter Hunter Greene. During a 37-pitch fourth inning, Greene battled for 12 pitches -- in an AB that included nine consecutive foul balls -- with Nico Hoerner. It ended when Hoerner lifted a two-out popup to the shortstop.
Greene tried throwing everything but the kitchen sink to retire Hoerner.
"I don’t know what else I could have done with Nico," said Greene, who mixed high-90s fastballs with his slider vs. Hoerner. "I was hitting the corners on both sides of the plate – inside, up and in, down and away outside, up and away outside. Maybe I just could have thrown a knuckleball or something that totally offset him.
"I was executing my pitches and what [catcher Jose Trevino] was putting down. Obviously that would have saved me and probably would have gotten me to the fifth. Not much I could have really done to change the outcome, honestly.”
Greene was out of the game with 83 pitches after four innings in his first start back from the injured list. He missed two starts with a right groin strain.
"That’s why the Nico at-bat is just a great example of really making him work so he has a long inning, and he’s got to be done for the night," Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. "That’s three outs of a game that changes the whole bullpen mix on the other side. So a lot of it’s about getting starters out of the game, because if our starter doesn’t last, you can’t get everything you want from a bullpen.”
Senior Reporter Mark Sheldon has covered the Reds for MLB.com since 2006, and previously covered the Twins from 2001-05.