McCoy: No Greene, no Lodolo, no problem as Reds sweep Texas<\/a><\/p>\nAnd they have won all seven games by two runs or less \u2014 6-5, 3-2, 2-0, 5-3, 2-0, 2-1 and 2-0.<\/p>\n
The offense, what little there was and has been, was provided by Elly De La Cruz, Sal Stewart and Tyler Stephenson.<\/p>\n
They were facing Miami\u2019s Janson Junk, a pitcher who last season held them to one unearned run and one hit in seven innings.<\/p>\n
And Junk, who attended Seattle University with Detroit Tigers super-arm pitcher Tarik Skubal, was just as difficult Monday.<\/p>\n
The Reds did just enough.<\/p>\n
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Cincinnati Reds shortstop Elly de la Cruz (44) and right fielder Will Benson (30) celebrate after the Reds defeated the Miami Marlins in a baseball game, Monday, April 6, 2026, in Miami.<\/p>\n
Lynne Sladky – AP<\/p>\n
De La Cruz punched a hustle double \u2014 on a ball that is a single for 99% of MLB players \u2014 with one out in the fourth.<\/p>\n
Stewart followed with a run-scoring line drive single up the middle and it was 1-0.<\/p>\n
Stephenson provided some much-needed breathing space with a leadoff home run off Junk leading off the eighth.<\/p>\n
The rookie Stewart is a Miami native and had close to 300 family, close acquaintances, friends and former coaches whooping it up in the stands.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was super-excited to have my family here,\u201d Stewart told reporters after his first MLB game in his hometown. \u201cMiami is in my blood, it\u2019s where I grew up and runs deep in my family.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was pretty crazy,\u201d he added. \u201cI was super happy everyone was here and I\u2019m glad we got a win.\u201d<\/p>\n
Williamson\u2019s changeup and cutter had the Marlins fishing and mostly missing during his 6 2\/3 innings of three-hit shutout\u00a0pitching with one walk and four strikeouts.<\/p>\n
It was quite the turnaround from his first start this season, his first start after missing all of last season.<\/p>\n
His first start was an 8-3 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates during which he gave up six runs, six hits, two walks and three home runs.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just stayed on track tonight,\u201d Williamson told reporters. \u201cI knew I did some things poorly in my first game, mostly mental mistakes. I won\u2019t say I got sped up, but I definitely wasn\u2019t clicking and not executing good pitches. Maybe I was trying to do too much.\u201d<\/p>\n
So how did the turnabout come about?<\/p>\n
\u201cI had some good conversations with the players and staff, leaned on them, and they helped me find my mental state to perform today,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
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Cincinnati Reds’ Tyler Stephenson tosses his bat after hitting a solo home run during the eighth inning of a baseball game against the Miami Marlins, Monday, April 6, 2026, in Miami.<\/p>\n
Lynne Sladky – AP<\/p>\n
His pitch-mix induced nine ground ball outs as the Reds completed their 10th straight game without an error.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was awesome, helped me get deep into the game,\u201d he told reporters. \u201cI could throw good changeups and cutters in the zone that gave my infielders and outfielders a chance to make a play.\u201d<\/p>\n
There was only one breath-holding moment after Stewart\u2019s run-scoring single gave the Reds a 1-0 lead.<\/p>\n
With two outs in the sixth, Miami catcher Agust\u00edn Ram\u00edrez drove one to right field that was home run-bound. But the ball hit two inches below the top of the nine-foot high wall and bounced back.<\/p>\n
Ramirez, the potential tying run, was on third, but Williamson struck out Jakob Marsee.<\/p>\n
While manager Tito Francona is most appreciative of the practically perfect pitching by his starting staff, he keeps a low profile about it.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know I stay in the moment,\u201d he told reporters. \u201cBut tonight was fun to watch. Willie (Williamson) had thrown the ball so well all spring and then had a little bit of a hiccup in his first start.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe came out tonight and he really pitched \u2026 and he had to,\u201d he added. \u201cThey hit one ball late real hard to center and they hit that one ball to right that probably stayed in by about two inches that would have tied the game.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Cincinnati Reds pitcher Brandon Williamson (55) is met in the dugout after being relieved during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Miami Marlins, Monday, April 6, 2026, in Miami.<\/p>\n
Lynne Sladky – AP<\/p>\n
When Francona said Williams had to pitch real good, he could have said all his pitchers have to be real good because the offense is in the deep freeze.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe changed speeds, he spun it, he threw his fastball, he worked ahead. He pitched,\u201d said Francona. \u201cWhen you have to respect three or four pitches, it makes it hard.\u201d<\/p>\n
That about covers every facet a pitcher needs to do to win baseball games.<\/p>\n
Asked if he sees his hitters pressing, Francona said, \u201cNo. I think our guys play to the scoreboard really well.\u201d<\/p>\n
TJ Friedl entered the game 3 for 30 and singled twice, one a bunt.<\/p>\n
\u201cTJ didn\u2019t get off to a very good start, but I haven\u2019t seen one change in his personality,\u201d said Francona. \u201cI really don\u2019t. If I did, I\u2019d talk to them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stewart, the one hitter who is actually hitting, .353, said, \u201cOur offense has to step it up a little more and the pitching is picking us up right now. We\u2019re having good at-bats and we\u2019re hitting the ball hard. You know, sometimes that\u2019s how it goes.\u201d<\/p>\n
And that\u2019s how it has gone for 10 games for the pitch-good, hit-bad Reds.<\/p>\n
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Cincinnati Reds shortstop Elly de la Cruz (44) throws to first where Miami Marlins’ Otto Lopez was safe with a single during the seventh inning of a baseball game, Monday, April 6, 2026, in Miami.<\/p>\n
Lynne Sladky – AP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cincinnati Reds third baseman Eugenio Su\u00e1rez (28) and shortstop Elly de la Cruz (44) celebrate after the Reds…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":667671,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2395],"tags":[5,50,1816,778,58,4171,4,185],"class_list":{"0":"post-667670","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-miami-marlins","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-cincinnati-reds","10":"tag-marlins","11":"tag-miami","12":"tag-miami-marlins","13":"tag-miamimarlins","14":"tag-mlb","15":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116361589230295450","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/667670","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=667670"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/667670\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/667671"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=667670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=667670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=667670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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