Years of watching and writing about this sport has taught me to flush any and all semblance of importance placed on one particular regular season game down the drain.
Emilio Pagan will do it, as he’s been taught to do his entire career. Any player who rocks a golden sombrero will, too. You’ll maybe see someone get a day off after a brutal day, some even a day off after a career day, but rarely is any future day baking in an entire time dwelling on what just happened the day before.
At least, that’s what I hope Terry Francona implored his Cincinnati Reds ball club to do on each of Friday and Saturday evenings. Flush the bad down, don’t dwell on it, and know that part of the beauty of the game of baseball is that the 1st inning rolls right back around the very next day.
However… the nature of this particular dance with the Milwaukee Brewers may make me rethink this.
Cincinnati blew a 1-0 lead with Pagan on the mound in the Top of the 9th on Sunday, one day after their defense (and Pagan’s walks) helped blow a lead late against the same Brewers in a loss on Saturday. That, of course, came on the back of Friday’s blown 8-1 lead when vibes when from their highest of highs to their lowest of lows in the course of one complete inning.
Milwaukee had won a billion games in a row. They’d defeated the Reds in a million series in a row. The Reds, able clawers as they are, have been clawing their way back into playoff contention as the team that owns them top to bottom owns the best record in the sport. Sunday, therefore, became more than just the next day, and became a line in the sand – a demarcation point on which this group simply would no longer retreat.
They sent Jake Fraley packing on Sunday morning, a move that while not panicked was certainly an obvious no-nonsense surprise. Clearly, they’d decided that what had happened before (especially against the Brewers) was simply not going to stand, man, and that aggression needed to be met with aggression on their end.
Andrew Abbott, my goodness, was electric as needed. The All-Star lefty showed up in precisely the way you’d hope from an ace, and an ace he firmly is in this newfangled era where left-handers simply own the sport. And the fight up and down the lineup late when it became clear they’d once again have to fight their way off the wall was admirable, rememberable as this club heads west on a vital three-team jaunt along the left coast.
Sunday was a game on which this club should build.
Sunday was a game that this club, this roster, this dugout should always remember as they chase a playoff spot in 2025.
They slayed the dragon, finally. Now go seize its treasure.