{"id":289017,"date":"2025-09-03T05:09:18","date_gmt":"2025-09-03T05:09:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/289017\/"},"modified":"2025-09-03T05:09:18","modified_gmt":"2025-09-03T05:09:18","slug":"lodolo-scratched-from-start-with-illness-reds-fall-to-blue-jays-12-9-in-bullpen-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/289017\/","title":{"rendered":"Lodolo scratched from start with illness, Reds fall to Blue Jays 12-9 in bullpen game"},"content":{"rendered":"

ExploreAsk Hal: Should MLB crack down on sliding mitts?<\/a><\/p>\n

Lodolo\u2019s illness forced manager Tito Francona to splice together a bullpen game and told reporters before the game, \u201cLodolo is sick, a high temperature and chills and we sent him to the doctor.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo we\u2019re going to have a bullpen game. Scott Barlow will start and then we\u2019ll try to piece it together from there.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis could actually be a real good night when you find a way to win on a night like this, that can be good for you,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

That was mere cockeyed optimism.<\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t work that way because not even nine runs and 15 hits were enough to beat the Toronto Blue Jays, who clubbed four home runs.<\/p>\n

The early part of the Reds bullpen was more like a pigpen as Barlow and Brent Suter gave up 10 runs in the first four innings.<\/p>\n

It was too much for the Reds to withstand and they lost, a painful loss because the New York Mets mauled the Detroit Tigers, 12-5, to push the Reds five games behind the Mets in the wild card chase.<\/p>\n

And to make matters more dire, the San Francisco Giants have pulled into a tie with the Reds, both at 70-69 and five games behind the Mets.<\/p>\n

The Reds put up quite a skirmish. They were down, 8-1, when they came to bat in the second and scored five to pull within 8-6.<\/p>\n

The Blue Jays pushed ahead, 10-6, and the Reds clawed back to within 10-8. The Blue Jays made it 11-8 and the Reds crept back to 11-9 in the eighth, but that was it.<\/p>\n

For Barlow, it was a Nightmare on Pete Rose Way. His third pitch of the game was hit into the great beyond by George Springer, his 62nd career game-leading home run.<\/p>\n

\"Cincinnati<\/p>\n

Credit: AP<\/p>\n

\"icon<\/p>\n

Credit: AP<\/p>\n

They could have stopped it right then.<\/p>\n

Barlow retired the next hitter, then threw 10 straight balls to walk the next two and go 3-and-2 on the next batter. He issued a third straight walk on a full count to Daulton Varsho to fill the bases.<\/p>\n

Alejandro Kirk cleared them with a three-run double over center fielder TJ Friedl\u2019s head and it was 4-0 before the Reds picked up a bat.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, that\u2019s a big hole to dig out of,\u201d said Francona. \u201cWe tried and I was proud of our guys because it wasn\u2019t for a lack of trying. It was just too deep of a hole.<\/p>\n

\u201cBarlow just wasn\u2019t commanding anything,\u201d he added. \u201cYou could tell it was a struggle. It was ball one, ball two, ball three in a hurry. It wasn\u2019t as if he was just missing, it was just hard for him to dial in.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Reds scored a run in the bottom of the first but left two runners stranded.<\/p>\n

The Blue Jays scored four off Brent Suter in the second, highlighted by a three-run home run by Bo Bichette for an 8-1 lead.<\/p>\n

That meant Bichette had reached base six straight times in the series with two homers, two doubles, a single and a walk with five RBI and four runs scored.<\/p>\n

\"Toronto<\/p>\n

Credit: AP<\/p>\n

\"icon<\/p>\n

Credit: AP<\/p>\n

Fortunately for the Reds, they were facing much-troubled Jose Berrios. He has been so ineffective the Blue Jays skipped his last start.<\/p>\n

And he was awful.<\/p>\n

The Reds scored five runs in the second, four coming after a two-out throwing error by third baseman Isiah Kiner-Falefa. It was his first game for Toronto after he was released by the Pittsburgh Pirates.<\/p>\n

After the error, Berrios walked Elly De La Cruz and Austin Hays dropped a titanic three-run homer into the left field upper deck and it was 8-6.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce Hays hit that ball, I said, \u2018OK, we\u2019ve got a game,\u2019\u201d said Francona. \u201cWe got into their bullpen way before they wanted to (the third), but we knew we were up against it going into it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Toronto scored two more in the fourth off Suter on Springer\u2019s second homer of the game and it was 10-6.<\/p>\n

Once again the Reds scratched and clawed to score two runs in the fourth, a rally started by TJ Friedl\u2019s bunt single. With two outs, Hays doubled home Friedl for his fourth RBI and Gavin Lux singled him home. That cut Toronto\u2019s margin to 10-8.<\/p>\n

\"Toronto<\/p>\n

Credit: AP<\/p>\n

\"icon<\/p>\n

Credit: AP<\/p>\n

So after four innings, the two teams scored 18 runs on 17 hits.<\/p>\n

Then matters settled down. The Blue Jays scored two runs over the final five innings, one on their fourth home run, this one by Daulton Varsho and the other on a wild pitch by Reds pitcher Reiver Sanmartin.<\/p>\n

The Reds scored just one run over the final five innings, a one-out home run in the eighth by Friedl.<\/p>\n

Former Reds pitcher Jeff Hoffman, now Toronto\u2019s closer, had struggled mightily in three of his last five appearances, giving up home runs.<\/p>\n

But he put the Reds down in the ninth, giving up a two-out infield single to Sal Stewart, but nothing more for his 30th save.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you look up in the second inning and see 8-1, it doesn\u2019t look good,\u201d said Francona. \u201cBut we made it a game. We didn\u2019t win, but the only way you have a chance to win one of those is to do what we did.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both teams used six pitchers and when it was mentioned to Francona that it could benefit the Reds in Wednesday night\u2019s series finale, he said, \u201cI hope you\u2019re right, but they got a pretty good guy starting.\u201d<\/p>\n

That would be Shane Bieber facing Cincinnati\u2019s Zack Littell.<\/p>\n

NEXT GAME<\/p>\n

Who: Toronto at Cincinnati<\/p>\n

When: 6:40 p.m.<\/p>\n

TV: FanDuel Sports<\/p>\n

Radio: 1410-AM, 700-AM<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ExploreAsk Hal: Should MLB crack down on sliding mitts? Lodolo\u2019s illness forced manager Tito Francona to splice together…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":289018,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2378],"tags":[537,5,377,44046,2554,6095,4,256,3892,557,185,282,70,2553],"class_list":{"0":"post-289017","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-toronto-blue-jays","8":"tag-athletics","9":"tag-baseball","10":"tag-blue-jays","11":"tag-blue-jays-reds-baseball","12":"tag-bluejays","13":"tag-mens-sports","14":"tag-mlb","15":"tag-mlb-baseball","16":"tag-pro-sports","17":"tag-professional-baseball","18":"tag-sports","19":"tag-toronto","20":"tag-toronto-blue-jays","21":"tag-torontobluejays"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115138643241248080","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289017","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=289017"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289017\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/289018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=289017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=289017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=289017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}