PHOENIX – The New York Mets victory over the Atlanta Braves on Aug. 22 went final just as the fourth batter of the Diamondbacks second inning stepped to the plate against the Cincinnati Reds.
The Mets’ lead was back up to a full game over the Reds for the final playoff position.
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Seven regulation innings and a pair of extra frames later, it was 1 1/2 games as the Reds lost a 6-5 heartbreaker to the Diamondbacks on Lourdes Gurriel Jr.’s run-scoring single leading off the bottom of the 11th against Scott Barlow at Chase Field.
“A loss is a loss, and the all hurt,” manager Terry Francona said. “When they end like this, it’s a little fresher when (media) get in here. That part’s a little harder. But we better flush it. We’ve got another game tomorrow (afternoon).”
And you thought the 109-degree game time temperature outside in the desert was hot (albeit, mercifully 76 under the roof at Chase Field).
Shortstop Elly De La Cruz prepares to tag out the Diamondbacks’ Geraldo Perdomo at second base on a steal attempt in the fourth inning Aug. 22. Catcher Jose Trevino made the throw.
Consider the race for October underway. And just begun.
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The Reds scored the go-ahead run in the top of the 10th when Arizona pitcher John Curtiss corralled a Jose Trevino sacrifice bunt attempt and threw a wild fastball down the right field line, with Trevino motoring into second. Trevino took third on an ensuing sac bunt but was thrown out at the plate trying to score on TJ Friedl’s fly on the foul side of the right-field line. The Reds unsuccessfully challenged whether the tag was applied.
If Tyler Stephenson wasn’t on the injured list with a thumb injury, Francona might have used a pinch runner for Trevino in the 10th. His other catcher on the roster is rookie Will Banfield, who has yet to make his big-league debut.
“I didn’t think it was fair to put the kid in the game in the 10th inning, ghost runner on second trying to catch (Graham) Ashcraft. I was really fighting it.”
Ketel Marte tied it with a one-out RBI single in the bottom half of the 10th on the 13th pitch of the at-bat against Ashcraft – just ahead of an inning-ending double play.
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The Reds had Friedl at third with one out in the top of the 11th when Elly De La Cruz lined a rocket toward left — and directly at drawn-in shortstop Geraldo Perdomo, who gloved it and flipped to third for a double play.
On this night, all three National League teams in wild-card position won, their games all finishing before the Reds and Diamondbacks started the ninth, tied 4-4.
In a start with trade-deadline newcomer Zack Littell struggling, the Reds took an early lead, gave it up on Gabriel Moreno’s three-run homer off Littell in the third inning, then came back to tie on some De La Cruz offense late – a leadoff triple that led to a run on a grounder in the sixth, and a one-out, run-scoring single to tie it in the eighth after Miguel Andujar’s pinch double.
“I thought from the first pitch of the game, it looked like it was a battle for him,” Francona said. “He was kind of bobbing and weaving a little bit.”
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One of the DBacks’ runs was unearned, courtesy of a catcher’s interference call against Trevino just ahead of Moreno’s one-out home run. The call was made only after a successful challenge by Arizona on what was originally ruled a strikeout.
On his way around the bases in the sixth, Andujar, the DH on this night, was conspicuously slow, and Francona said afterward he’s been nursing a sore quad for a few days.
“From talking to him, I actually thought he was doing better,” Francona said. “When he hit the ball to right, I thought he was just protecting it because he knew it was a double. When I was watching him score, I didn’t look real good.”
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati Reds lose on walkoff in 11th, drop to 1.5 games behind Mets