Reds pitcher Nick Martinez talks loss to Dodgers
Cincinnati Reds pitcher Nick Martinez said he didn’t do himself any favors in loss to Los Angeles Dodgers despite little support Tuesday.
LOS ANGELES – Wait’ll next year.
The Cincinnati Reds season isn’t over, but the way they’re finishing August doesn’t offer a lot of promise for what’s around the corner in September.
A 6-3 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Aug. 26 was the Reds’ fifth loss in six games – dropping them from a half-game out of playoff position to 3 1/2 in five days flat.
“We’re in a similar spot to where we’ve kind of been all year,” said left fielder Austin Hays, who committed a throwing error each of past two games that contributed to runs scoring. “Just at the point where you’ve got to show up tomorrow and play cleaner baseball, play better baseball. I know I need to.”
The Reds haven’t been this far behind the Mets for the final National League wild-card position since Aug. 8. They have 29 games left.
“There’s still games to be played,” said Reds starter Nick Martinez, who pitched into the sixth before the Dodgers extended a 2-1 lead Tuesday. “There’s still a month left. We can hit our groove again.”
It’ll take a few more hits than the three they got in the series opener the night before, maybe even more than the two home runs they have in the last five games and definitely a lot cleaner baseball than they’ve played during these past two series losses in Arizona and Los Angeles.
Clean baseball?
“Against any team, but especially against a team like this,” manager Terry Francona said. “However you want to say it: You just give an extra out or an extra opportunity (it hurts), because they make you work so hard anyway.
“I thought Martinez pitched really well. But you look up, and it’s the sixth, and he’s nearing 100 (pitches). That’s because their lineup is relentless.”
In addition to Hays’ throwing error, the Dodgers found the Reds’ defensive risk of the night during a game-changing sixth inning, when pinch-hitter Miguel Rojas drove a ball to the warning track in straightaway centerfield.
Marte, making his first career start in center, got turned around before recovering, and the ball cleared his glove for a two-run double.
“That’s the same ball he’s had a tough time in right field, the one right at him where he’s got to take a drop-step, glove side,” Francona said. “I don’t know if he catches it, but he didn’t have a clean route after. It ended up being a big play.”
Marte, who never played the outfield in his life before last month, moved from right to center for the night as Francona gave TJ Friedl a needed day off and packed his lineup with righties against left-hander Clayton Kershaw.
Francona praised the work Marte has put in, especially making a switch from third base midseason for a team trying to make the playoffs.
“If you’re going to criticize somebody, I’d rather you criticize me for playing him there,” Francona said. “Because I think the kid’s doing a good job. And it wasn’t perfect. But I still think there’s a really good outfielder there.”
Marte made what might have been a bigger mistake in the top of the sixth, when came to the plate with men at first and second and nobody out.
Hitting .313 with a .538 slugging percentage in August entering the game, Marte decided to try to bunt, catching everybody but the Dodgers off guard. He bunted into the air, with pitcher Edgardo Henriquez catching the pop and firing to second for a double play that squelched the threat.
“I would rather see him hit one off that scoreboard,” Francona said. “It’s a young guy trying to do too much.”
Despite pitching around traffic as the Dodgers drove up his pitch count, Martinez nursed a 2-1 game to the sixth before Will Smith quickly made it 3-1 with a leadoff homer in the sixth in what became a four-run sixth that put the game away for the Dodgers.
The Reds scored in the first, thanks to a pair of hits by Spencer Steer and Elly De La Cruz three batters into the game. But Kershaw (9-2) retired the next 14 after that to finish off a five-inning start.
Cincinnati Reds LF Austin Hays talks throwing error, losses to Dodgers
Cincinnati Reds LF Austin Hays made a throwing error in each of the two losses to the Dodgers in the first two games of the series in Los Angeles.
It was 6-1 by the time a leadoff walk and two-run homer by Hays in the seventh closed the gap. It was Hays’ first home run since July 18.
The Reds are 3-5 with one to go during this three-city, nine-game trip west.
They return home to face the Cardinals, after which comes a gauntlet to open September of: the American League East-leading Blue Jays, Mets and playoff-positioned San Diego Padres.
This story was updated to add a gallery.