Rangers 1 Reds 0
Well, that figures.
Carson Spiers pitched his tail off for six innings, allowing just a first inning homer. But Reds bats, hot a night ago, were packed in the deep freeze by Rangers right-hander Nathan Eovaldi.
Eovaldi tossed his second career complete game shutout. He entered the 9th at 89 pitches and finished at 99.
Offense: After 14 runs on 14 hits Monday night, the Reds managed just four hits. Eovaldi was perfect before Gavin Lux lined a single to start the 5th. It was Lux that broke up Robbie Ray’s perfect game bid with a single to lead off the 6th on Sunday.
9th inning chance: Pinch-hitter Jacob Hurtubise singled to lead off the 9th. TJ Friedl bunted right out in front of the plate into a forceout at 2nd. McLain lined out to center. Friedl advanced to 2nd on a wild pitch. Elly grounded out.
One night after crushing nine balls at 100 or more mph off the bat, the Reds hit two balls hard, a Jeimer Candelario groundout (100.0) and a McLain lineout (101.7). They struck out eight times and did not walk.
Spiers: 6 IN, 3 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 5 K, 85 pitches/48 strikes. Not bad for a 5th starter making his 13th ML start. He was aggressive and got ahead of hitters. He made one mistake, a 1st inning HR to Wyatt Langford. He did get away with some pitches that the Rangers smoked into outs. But he got 11 called strikes and 11 swing and misses. He allowed 20 HR in 90.2 ML innings 2024.
Five times last season the Reds scored at least 7 runs and were shutout the next day: Shutouts followed offensive outbursts of 7, 11, 9, 11, 7.
2023 offense had back to back games with runs of: 10/1, 8/1, 8/0, 7/0, 8/0
2022 offense had back to back games with runs of: 4/0, 11/1, 9/1, 8/1
7th inning chance: Matt McLain singled to start the inning. He advanced to 2nd on an Elly groundout, and to 3rd on a Lux groundout. But Candelario popped to left field.
Jake Fraley hustled to the line to cut down Langford attempting to stretch a single to a double, ending the 3rd inning and leaving a runner at 3rd.
Error: Elly’s 2nd, fielding
Bullpen:
7th: Scott Barlow
8th: Taylor Rogers 0.2 BB, Ian Gibaut 0.1…one pitch, one out.
9th: Gibaut
How they scored:
They did not