Dane Myers’ 11th-inning single scored TJ Friedl with the winning run to lead the Cincinnati Reds to their initial win of the season, 6-5, before 38,298 on Kids Opening Day at Great American Ball Park.

Myers had come into the game as a late-inning defensive replacement, and looped his game-winning hit to left-center field off Boston righty Justin Slaten. Matt McLain reached base five times (three hits and two walks). Connor Phillips was credited with the win after two innings of dominant relief pitching.

It was a game in which the Reds were five-for-five in ABS (umpire ball and strike call) challenges. Boston, on the other hand, lost two challenges early in the game and had no challenges left over the final eight innings.

The Offense

The combined box-score line for Reds hitters: 10-for-42 (.238), 2 homers, 7 walks, 12 strikeouts and 6 runs.

TJ Friedl and McLain led off the game with a single and a walk, respectively. Elly De La Cruz’s ground-out advanced them, followed by a line single to right by Sal Stewart to score the Reds’ first run of the year. Eugenio Suarez pounded one into the dirt which old friend Sonny Gray fielded and tried to swipe-tag McLain coming to the plate, but missed. The two-run first ran Gray’s first-inning pitch count to 35.

After Ke’Bryan Hayes reached on a throwing error by Trevor Story with one out in the second inning, McLain drilled a double 110 mph (the hardest-hit ball of his career) to the gap in left-center to increase the home team’s lead to 3-0.

Stewart led off the bottom of the third with a 108.6-mph bomb to centerfield, his fifth hit in the first 12 innings of the season, to put Cincinnati up 4-1. It doesn’t take a trained eye to see that this guy can really hit. It will be interesting to see what major league pitchers decide to attack as a vulnerability in Stewart’s swing, because they haven’t found one yet in the first two games of the season. Following the homer, Stewart’s batting average sat at .833 (5-for-6 in the early going), and his OPS was 2.500.

De La Cruz led off the fifth against righty reliever Greg Weissert by lining a first-pitch homer to right to make it 5-3 Reds. Cincinnati loaded the bases with two outs against a pair of Boston relievers in the sixth, but an Eugenio Suarez groundout ended the inning. Notably, the 1-2 and 2-2 pitches to Suarez, both called strike-threes by home plate umpire C.B. Bucknor, were challenged by Suarez and overturned by ABS to set up a 3-2 pitch for the inning-ending groundout.

In the 11th, with Friedl on second, McLain walked and De La Cruz struck out before Myers’ heroics.

The Pitching

Cincinnati pitchers’ combined line: 11 innings, 8 hits, 5 walks, 2 homers, 15 strikeouts and 5 runs.

Starter Brady Singer held the Red Sox scoreless on one hit over the first couple of innings, but then Story’s one-out solo homer in the third brought Boston back within 3-1.

After the Reds had increased the lead to 4-1 in the third, Roman Anthony’s two-out single scored Carlos Narvaez to make it 4-2 Reds. A wild pitch with Story batting then scored another run to make it 4-3. But with the tying run on second, Story’s at-bat ended with a called strike three that looked questionable. The Red Sox could not challenge because they were already out of ABS reviews by that point.

Manager Terry Francona brought on lefty Sam Moll to start the fifth, following Singer’s four innings. The righty appeared to have issues throughout his four innings with the portion of his index finger still healing from a blister that developed late in spring training. He allowed five hits, walked two and three runs. Moll pitched a scoreless fifth against the heart of the Boston batting order.

Pierce Johnson got the first two outs of the sixth surrounding a Narvaez hit, when Francona summoned Graham Ashcraft to face Anthony. A grounder to McLain ended that inning.

In the seventh with two outs, after Jarren Duran walked and advanced to second on an Ashcraft wild pitch, Wilyer Abreu lined a shot to right on which Will Benson tried but failed to make a grass-top catch. The double scored Duran to bring Boston within 5-4. Tony Santillan entered and struck out Caleb Durbin to preserve the one-run advantage. In the eighth, he struck out two batters around two walks. Francona brought on Emilio Pagan, who struck out Story on a disputed checked-swing.

Pagan retired the first two batters in the ninth, but succumbed to one of his foils from a season ago, allowing a game-tying solo shot to Abreu, sending the game to the bottom of the ninth with the home team against Aroldis Chapman. Needless to say, nothing happened there.

Connor Phillips took the ball in the top of the 10th and retired the side in order, leaving the designated runner stranded at second. He did the same in the 11th, and earned my endorsement for the role of closer. He struck out three and allowed no base runners over his two sterling innings

One fan’s thoughts

What was the biggest moment of the game? A home run? A strikeout? How about two consecutive ABS challenges?

As mentioned above, two consecutive pitches to Eugenio Suarez in the sixth were overturned. With the bases loaded and two outs, Suarez was down in the count 1-2. On the back-to-back successful challenges, you could hear the crowd erupt as they saw the replay on the scoreboard. TV announcer John Sadak said it was the loudest crowd cheer of the day. And admittedly it was for me, as well, here in my recliner.

FIVE — count them — FIVE times, the Reds challenged successfully today. That really says something about home plate umpire Bucknor’s ability to judge the zone. It also says something about what appears to be the Reds’ team strategy — not making borderline challenges in the early innings. It sure paid off today, as they were all in key game situations. Boston unsuccessfully used two challenges in the first three innings, and that was it for them. With Bucknor’s reputation and clear misses of at least five pitches against Reds batters, Boston probably would have been best served to save their challenges for key situations.

Up Next for the Cincinnati Reds

Boston Red Sox at Cincinnati Reds

Sunday, March 29, 12:40 p.m. ET

Connelly Early (1-2, 2.33 ERA in 2025) vs. Rhett Lowder (2-2, 1.17 ERA, career in MLB, last in 2024)