CINCINNATI (WXIX) – Tyler Stephenson deserved for this to be his moment. It was storybook. With the Reds’ backs against the wall in a crucial game toward their playoff chances, the longest-tenured Red hit a game-tying homer in front of the most special home crowd that he felt like he had ever played in front of at Great American Ball Park.
“I’ve never felt it like it is tonight,” Stephenson said. “It gives you a taste of what playoff baseball would be like here.”
After Stephenson tied the score against the last place Pirates in the ninth inning, the Reds had another chance to jump back into the third Wild Card spot in extra innings. Instead, the lineup came up short again in extra innings. The Pirates completed the 4-3 win in 11 innings on Wednesday, and the Reds are still a game back of the Mets in the playoff chase with four games left in the season.
With the loss, the Reds lost their 12 extra inning game in 15 tries this season.
“We all feel like we can be better situationally with some situational hitting,” Gavin Lux said. “We’re a fairly young team. We’ll continue to get better at it. That’s probably a part of it.”
It felt different at GABP on Wednesday. The Reds haven’t rewarded their fans with enough of these types of games over the last 25 years, and that’s especially been the case since 2013. The 2021 Reds and the 2023 Reds were in it late in the season, but not in the same way that the 2025 Reds are right now.
In the Reds’ clubhouse recently, a conversation stirred up about recent Reds’ history. The takeaway was that you can’t take these types of games for granted. Wednesday was the biggest game that Stephenson has ever played in, and they’ll all keep getting bigger from here down the stretch this season.
It’s not easy for the Reds to pack the park like they have over the last two days. First, the Reds have to be in the playoff race in late September. That’s been a big challenge for the Reds.
When you do get one of those opportunities, you have the chance to deliver the type of moment that will play on scoreboards in highlight reels for years. Stephenson’s homer on Wednesday was nearly one of them.
But at the end of the day, the Reds’ crowd left disappointed. Again.
There are two ways to look at Wednesday’s loss. The Mets lost as well, so the Reds didn’t lose any ground and Thursday will still be a monumental game for the Reds. But also, Wednesday was a chance for the Reds to leapfrog the Mets again in the standings. A win on Wednesday also would have kept the Reds’ momentum going.
Instead, they suffered their worst loss of the season.
“When you’re that close, it’s raw,” Terry Francona said. “It just happened. You need to bounce back in a hurry (tomorrow).”
A pitcher’s duel between Hunter Greene and Paul Skenes lived up to the hype. Greene allowed two runs in six innings, and one of those runs scored because of missed chances defensively by the Reds. Skenes, working on a pitch count, threw six of the most dominant shutout innings that you’ll see.
The Pirates carried a 2-0 lead into the eighth inning. Noelvi Marte crushed a ball to center field, Oneil Cruz misplayed it on a play where Cruz also suffered an injury and the Reds cut their deficit in half.
Bad teams give you extra chances. The Pirates gave the Reds a few of them with Skenes in the game, and this play in the eighth inning was another. The Reds were back in the game.
Stephenson’s game-tying homer in the ninth inning was the best moment of his career. He has been on a heck of a journey in a Reds’ uniform. He was the young guy on a good team that ultimately came up short in 2021, was the star of a terrible 2022 Reds team before needing shoulder surgery and bounced back and grinded through 2023 and 2024. This year, he dealt with two more injuries, got hot in September and now is one of their most clutch players.
His story should have paid off with this homer against the Pirates, but the Reds couldn’t get the big hit. That’s been the story of the season for a team that wasn’t able to add a real top or middle of the order presence to the lineup during the offseason, and for a team that has seen its young hitters get hot for different stretches but not collectively take the big next step yet as a group.
The Reds had a lot of close calls down the stretch in the game on Wednesday. Elly De La Cruz was robbed of a single by the Pirates’ second baseman in the eighth, and Miguel Andujar worked a terrific at-bat that resulted in a strikeout in the 10th.
But Reds’ rallies ended with a strikeout from Matt McLain plus a groundout by TJ Friedl in the ninth inning, Andujar’s strikeout in the 10th and a groundout by Noelvi Marte in the 11th inning on a fastball that was right down the middle.
The ball didn’t bounce the Reds’ way, but Francona said the Reds need to create more “bounces.”
“That’s our job,” Francona said. “When you don’t have a lot of chances and they don’t go your way, you lose. We need to continue to make more.”
After the game, Francona stressed the quick turnaround to Thursday’s day game and the Reds’ need to move forward onto the next game. Twenty-four hours from now, the Reds have a chance to be back in a playoff spot.
On Thursday, there will probably be another good crowd. There will probably be another moment where the fans roar as a player comes up to the plate late in the game. But you only get so many chances at this, and each opportunity feels even more pressing when your recent history looks like the Reds’ does.
Wednesday’s heartbreaking loss could still wind up being a footnote in the Reds’ September. But there’s just as good of a chance that it winds up being their ultimate what if and what could have been for 2025.
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