CINCINNATI (WXIX) – The message going around the Cincinnati Reds’ clubhouse this weekend was a simple one: Be at the top step of the dugout, cheer your teammates on and show some more energy.
“We’ve all been making sure we’re on the same page to make sure we’re putting out that contagious energy,” Jake Fraley said. “We all feed off of each other. Going through the tough games and tough series where we were on the cusp but couldn’t get over that hump, that’s a difference maker. The teams that are able to do that consistently and stay on top of each other are the teams that play to their full potential.”
The Reds didn’t sweep the Arizona Diamondbacks this weekend because players were consistently on the top step of the dugout. They won the series because of the strong return from Christian Encarnacion-Strand, some clutch hits from Matt McLain and very good work from the bullpen.
But still, this was a Reds team that didn’t have a late-game comeback win in 2025. They technically still don’t because this weekend’s comebacks took place in the fifth and sixth innings. This weekend, though, there were two games where the Reds looked down and out, fought their way back into it and pulled out wins in addition to the blowout victory in Game 2 of the series.
“Wins like that, you can feel that momentum carry,” McLain said. “It’s about the process and playing it the right way. Having energy throughout the game no matter the score. When we do those things, the best version of ourselves show up.”
Before the Diamondbacks came to town, the Reds were at a real low point. They were coming off series losses to the Cubs and Brewers where the Reds were outclassed. In the big clutch moments, the Reds fell completely flat.
These were some excruciating close losses. That sparked the conversations this week about spending more time at the top step of the dugout. The Reds had to do something different to change their fortunes in close games, so they focused on this intangible.
“When we were in the box (this weekend), you could hear the guys yelling, in the game with you and in the at-bat with you, too,” Fraley said. “We were running ground balls out. On pop flies, we were rounding first and getting as close to second as you can for if they drop it. Things like that are contagious as well. That’s the way that collectively we want to play the game. When we all have that same intent, focus and energy playing our (tails) off, that’s the difference maker.”
In Game 1 of the series, the Reds were down, 3-2, in the sixth inning and were playing through a downpour. Encarnacion-Strand hit the game-tying homer just before the game got suspended. As Encarnacion-Strand rounded the bases, he showed as much emotion as he ever has on a big league field.
When the game was picked up on Saturday with the score tied in the seventh inning, Graham Ashcraft, Emilio Pagán and Tony Santillan were nails out of the bullpen. They bought time for the Reds’ lineup, and Cincinnati eventually scored its first extra-innings run of the season on a walk-off double by Encarnacion-Strand.
Too often this season, the Reds have followed a good game with a clunker. But when Game 2 of the Diamondbacks series started shortly after the walk-off ending to Game 1, the Reds pounced and scored five runs in the first inning.
Then in Game 3, the Reds faced Arizona’s ace. On top of that, several Reds relievers weren’t available.
“That was a hard game to win,” Terry Francona said.
The wind got sucked out of the ballpark when starter Brady Singer was struck in the arm by a comebacker in the fourth inning. After being evaluated by the training staff, Singer stayed in the game and kept the Reds in it as he allowed two runs in five innings.
Singer was at 77 pitches petitioned to stay in the game, but Francona wanted to be careful after Singer narrowly avoided an injury on that comebacker.
“I give the kid credit, he wanted to stay in bad,” Francona said. “If I’d have been younger in my days, he might have talked me into it. I thought that we can’t lose a starting pitcher. It was the right thing to do. It’s not the easy thing to do.”
Singer went over to catcher Jose Trevino for a few words after Singer was informed that he wouldn’t be going back out for the sixth. But they didn’t have time to chat because Trevino was due up.
“I was telling Trevino that I was done, and he said that he had to go hit,” Singer said. Trevino told him that he’d be right back. Trevino’s prediction was right as he hit the game-tying homer.
The Reds were now back in the late, close game that they’ve struggled to pull through all season. Then, there was a rain delay.
In the seventh inning, a single by Jake Fraley followed by a two-run homer from Matt McLain gave the Reds the decisive lead in a 4-2 win.
“That guy is a talented baseball player,” Fraley said. “That’s why we play nine innings and 162 games. He’s a phenomenal ball player.”
With the victory on Sunday, the Reds got back to .500 and also completed the sweep against a Diamondbacks team that should be in the mix for a wild card spot at the end of the season.
“The obvious stuff this weekend was on the field with the clutch hitting and the timely hitting,” Fraley said. “But if you go around our locker room right now, everyone is going to be in agreement that our energy on the top step was tremendous all series. We dealt with the rain and then the delay again today.
Fraley continued, “Going through the tough games and the tough series that we’ve had, being so close and right on the cusp, it’s a very common thing for teams to get off that top step and get more internal. This series, we were on the top step the whole series. Guys were taking tough pitches in good at-bats and everyone was yelling and involved. Nobody is on the iPads going through stuff in big moments. Everyone was locked in. That’s contagious.”
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