Hal McCoy
It was supposed to be a sideshow, the two top candidates for Rookie of the Year facing off from opposite dugouts.
As it turned out, it was the main event Saturday, April 25 when the Cincinnati Reds annihilated the Detroit Tigers, 9-2, on Hall of Fame Night in Great American Ball Park.
It was Detroit’s Kevin McGonigle, who signed an eight-year $150 million contract after playing only 17 MLB games.
It was Cincinnati’s Sal Stewart, playing for the major league minimum of $781,500.
McGonigle, batting leadoff, got in the first punch. He reversed Reds starter Brady Singer’s second pitch over the center field wall.
And he had a good night — home run, single and a double and has been on base in 24 straight games.
But Stewart said, “Anything you can do, I can do better.” And he did.
Stewart matched McGonigle’s first-inning home run with one of his own, only Stewart’s came with two men on base and gave the Reds a 3-1 lead.
Then he beat an infield single, singled home two more runs and drew a walk.
So the tally was McGonigle 3 for 5 with a run scored and an RBI and Stewart was 3 for 4 with a run scored and five RBI.
Cincinnati Reds’ TJ Friedl, left, celebrates with first base coach Collin Cowgill after hitting a single during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Detroit Tigers in Cincinnati, Saturday, April 25, 2026.
Ben Jackson – FR172357 AP
Winner? Stewart.
And the Reds were the big winners, grabbing not only their eighth win in nine games, but also claiming sole possession of first place in the National League Center (18-9).
Stewart was not the only Cincinnati batsman who trotted leisurely around the bases.
Nathaniel Lowe homered immediately after Stewart’s first-inning home run, Lowe’s third homer in two games.
Elly De La Cruz crushed a two-run homer in the second inning, tying Stewart for the club lead with nine.
And a resurgent TJ Friedl topped off his three-hit night with a ninth-inning home run, his first. For Friedl it was two bloops and a blast. His first two hits were a bloop double over third base and a bloop single to right field. Then came the blast.
Detroit’s only other run than McGonigle’s homer was a fourth-inning home run by Spencer Torkelson, his fourth homer in four games.
Cincinnati Reds manager Terry Francona walks back to the dugout after making a pitching change during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Detroit Tigers in Cincinnati, Saturday, April 25, 2026.
Ben Jackson / AP
Fox commentator and former St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright despised pitching in GABP and calls it, “The devil’s lair.”
In the first two games of the series, the two teams have combined for 14 home runs, eight by the Reds and six by the Tigers.
It’s the most home runs in a three-game series in MLB this season. . .and the two teams play again Sunday afternoon.
The only damage done to Singer was the two home runs. He came up two outs short of a third straight quality start. He pitched 5 1/3 innings and scattered eight hits and didn’t issue a walk.
And he wasn’t in deep trouble when Reds manager Tito Francoa said, “Enough.” Singer gave up a one-out single in the sixth, but his pitch-count was at 94 and Francona patted him on the posterior, told him, “Good job,” and sent him off to the showers.
The Reds’ bullpen of Connor Phillips, Graham Ashcraft, Sam Moll and Emilio Pagan held the Tigers to no runs, two hits and two walks over the final 3 2/3 innings.
Detroit starter Jack Flaherty wasn’t around long enough to get acquainted with home plate umpire Laz Diaz.
He lasted only two innings and gave up six runs, five hits (three homers) and two walks.
His night began belligerantly when he struck out Friedl on three pitches. But he walked both Matt McLain and De La Cruz.
Stewart unloaded his homer, a 366-foot three-run blast into the left field seats for a 3-1 lead. Lowe followed by pulling a 350-footer down the rigtht field line.
Ke’Bryan Hayes, batting .081, opened the second with a double over center fielder Matt Vierling’s head. It was his fifth hit in 67 at bats.
Cincinnati Reds’ Sal Stewart, left, celebrates after his three-run home run with teammate Elly de la Cruz, second from left, during the first inning of a baseball game against the Detroit Tigers in Cincinnati, Saturday, April 25, 2026. Ben Jackson / AP
Ben Jackson / AP
Friedl bunted him to third and De La Cruz cleared the center field wall with a 415-foot Cruz missile and it was 6-1.
Hayes struck again leading off the sixth, a solid single to left. Friedl singled and with one out De La Cruz walked to fill the bases.
Stewart shot a two-run single to right for two more RBI, giving him not only the team lead with 29, but the top gun in MLB. And he lifted his batting average to .303.
Another sideshow was an at bat by De La Cruz. He hit the fourth hardest ball in MLB this season at 115.3 miles an hour.
And it wasn’t on his home run. It was on a sizzling line drive he hit in the eighth inning that was stabbed by second baseman Javier Baez. The three balls hit harder than De La Cruz’s liner were all home runs.
NEXT GAME
Who: Detroit at Cincinnati
When: 1:40 p.m., Sunday, April 26
Streaming: Reds.TV
Radio: 700-AM, 1410-AM