Tyler Stephenson discusses Reds’ extra-innings loss to Pirates
Reds catcher Tyler Stephenson spoke with media members post-game to discuss the 4-3 loss to Pittsburgh in 11 innings at Great American Ball Park on Sept. 24.
Maybe we’ll look back on the Cincinnati Reds losing the penultimate series of the 2025 season to the long-since-eliminated Pittsburgh Pirates as a dramatic narrative twist preceding a glorious finish.
Or maybe the Reds’ series loss to the Pirates will be known as the backbreaker in Cincinnati’s pennant race.
We’ll know for certain four games from now. All that was known following the Sept. 24 middle game of the Reds-Pirates series was that Cincinnati was in danger of being swept after Pittsburgh claimed a 4-3 win in 11 innings at Great American Ball Park before a wanting crowd of 30,725.
After Reds catcher Tyler Stephenson homered in the bottom of the ninth inning to send the game to extras at 2-2, the teams posted one run apiece in the 10th inning. In the 11th, Pittsburgh’s Spencer Horwitz’s leadoff double provided the eventual game-winning run off of Reds reliever Nick Martinez.
The Reds loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the 11th but Noelvi Marte grounded into a fielder’s choice to end the game.
Initially, the Reds didn’t suffer in the standings, although the Arizone Diamondbacks had an opportunity to overtake Cincinnati in the standings. The New York Mets, who held the third and final NL wild card position when the day started, lost to the Chicago Cubs, 10-3. It’s possible Cincinnati returns to Great American Ball Park on Sept. 25 still just a game back of New York, but they’ll still have wasted an opportunity to retake control of their playoff destiny.
Hours earlier, the Sept. 24 contest started as a battle between All-Star, ace pitchers. That duel was edged by Pittsburgh’s Paul Skenes in a face-off with Cincinnati’s Hunter Greene.
Skenes (11-10) handed a 2-0 lead to his bullpen after six innings of four-hit, no run baseball. The bullpen closed out the victory, but not without some dramatics.
Greene (7-5) went six innings and allowed five hits, two runs and struck out seven. The Reds’ bats failed to support him in the face of Skenes, a frontrunner for the NL Cy Young Award who saw his ERA drop to 1.97 after six innings of four-hit, no-run baseball.
Marte finally got the Reds on the scoreboard with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning via an inside-the-park home run off Pirates closer Dennis Santana. Marte’s deep drive off the top of the wall in center resulted in center fielder Oneil Cruz crashing into the wall and crumbling to the ground.
The ball landed softly on the warning track, forcing Pirates outfielders to scramble to fetch the ball. While that was happening, Marte circled the bases with relative ease.
An inning later, and after reliever Emilio Pagán posted a scoreless ninth inning despite loading the bases, Stephenson went deep to left-center field and Great American Ball Park roared the kind of roar that only postseason passions can produce.
The teams traded runs in the 10th with Cincinnati’s Gavin Lux hitting a sacrifice fly to score T.J. Friedl, knotting the game at three. Later in the inning, Miguel Andujar struck out with Marte in scoring position and representing a run that could have salvaged the game.
Horwitz then delivered the double in the 11th for a 4-3 lead that might have been the back breaker in Cincinnati’s pennant push.
The Reds and Pirates are scheduled to play the close-out game of their three-game set Sept. 25 at 12:40 p.m.