James Loney home run sends Reds to loss vs. Rays
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
It took just one run in the second inning – a home run, nonetheless – for the Tampa Bay Rays to win the interleague game Saturday, defeating the Cincinnati Reds, 1-0.
At the top of the second inning, James Loney put the Rays on the board first with a towering 412-foot home run over the right field wall for the 1-0 lead. The home run came on an 0-1 count.
The loss moves the Reds to 3-8 on the season, losing four of their past five games, with three of those losses by two or fewer runs. Against the Rays in the first two games of this series, the Reds have lost both games by one run each, falling Friday night by a 2-1 score.
As for Alfredo Simon, who gave up the home run, he responded by retiring 13 of the next 14 Rays batters, including 12 consecutive batters, before Ben Zobrist singled to shallow centerfield in front of an announced crowd of 35,356 at Great American Ball Park.
[[In-content Ad]]For the remainder of the game, following Loney's homer, Simon retired 21 of the next 25 batters he faced but still suffered the loss.
Simon (1-1, 1.20 ERA) pitched eight innings, allowing the one earned run on five hits and one walk. The No. 5 starter struck out four batters on 102 pitchers (65 strikes).
Rays starter Alex Cobb (1-1, 1.89 ERA), who earned the win, was on point in the first two innings, throwing a combined 19 pitches for six consecutive outs, three via strikeouts. Cobb finished with seven innings pitched (87 pitches). The right-hander allowed no runs on four hits, no walks, one hit batter and one wild pitch. He threw 57 strikes.
The win moves the Rays to 7-5 on the season, as Grant Balfour was credited with the save.
Cobb gave up his first hit in the bottom of the third with Zack Cozart hitting a one-one line drive double down the third base line to the left-field wall. Cozart was moved to third by Alfredo Simon on a groundout to second but was left stranded 90 feet away from home following a Billy Hamilton fly out to right field.
What could have been a big fourth inning for the Reds turned out to be a disaster, as they scored no runs, though they had two runners in scoring position.
Cincinnati began the bottom of the fourth with a ground-rule double to left field by Joey Votto, who batted second in the order for the first time since 2008.
Brandon Phillips followed with a base hit through the middle of the infield, allowing Votto to race home, only to be thrown out at the plate for the first out of the inning.
While Phillips moved to second on the throw home, he was thrown out at third when attempting to steal the base. The Reds went down 1-2-3 as Jay Bruce followed with a strikeout.
The Reds got another runner on the bases to start their half of the sixth inning with Cozart getting hit by a pitch and moving to second on a wild pitch. From there, it was Simon who moved Cozart to third with a bunt toward the third base side.
As there were two outs against the Reds, Votto came to the plate and kept the runner stranded as he grounded out to second to end the inning.
In the seventh for the Reds, Todd Frazier kept the inning going with a two-out single past first base, but yet again, the Reds couldn't score the runner. A large part of that was Evan Longoria robbing Ryan Ludwick of a base hit, with a diving stop and throw to second for the force out to end the inning.
For the Rays, Logan Forsythe doubled to right field as a pinch hitter in the top of the eighth but was left on the bases following three straight outs by Simon. Simon earned those outs with a fly ball to centerfield, a grind out to second, and on the final batter he faced in the interleague game, a strikeout.
Manny Parra pitched one inning of relief for the Reds, finishing with two strikeouts.
In the bottom of the ninth for the Reds, Billy Hamilton grounded out to the shortstop, followed by Votto forcing a walk in the next at-bat. Phillips, the No. 3 batter in the lineup on Saturday, had a long at-bat where he started 0-2 in the count but worked his way to moving the count full, only to ground out into a 5-4-3 double play to end the game.
At the top of the second inning, James Loney put the Rays on the board first with a towering 412-foot home run over the right field wall for the 1-0 lead. The home run came on an 0-1 count.
The loss moves the Reds to 3-8 on the season, losing four of their past five games, with three of those losses by two or fewer runs. Against the Rays in the first two games of this series, the Reds have lost both games by one run each, falling Friday night by a 2-1 score.
As for Alfredo Simon, who gave up the home run, he responded by retiring 13 of the next 14 Rays batters, including 12 consecutive batters, before Ben Zobrist singled to shallow centerfield in front of an announced crowd of 35,356 at Great American Ball Park.
[[In-content Ad]]For the remainder of the game, following Loney's homer, Simon retired 21 of the next 25 batters he faced but still suffered the loss.
Simon (1-1, 1.20 ERA) pitched eight innings, allowing the one earned run on five hits and one walk. The No. 5 starter struck out four batters on 102 pitchers (65 strikes).
Rays starter Alex Cobb (1-1, 1.89 ERA), who earned the win, was on point in the first two innings, throwing a combined 19 pitches for six consecutive outs, three via strikeouts. Cobb finished with seven innings pitched (87 pitches). The right-hander allowed no runs on four hits, no walks, one hit batter and one wild pitch. He threw 57 strikes.
The win moves the Rays to 7-5 on the season, as Grant Balfour was credited with the save.
Cobb gave up his first hit in the bottom of the third with Zack Cozart hitting a one-one line drive double down the third base line to the left-field wall. Cozart was moved to third by Alfredo Simon on a groundout to second but was left stranded 90 feet away from home following a Billy Hamilton fly out to right field.
What could have been a big fourth inning for the Reds turned out to be a disaster, as they scored no runs, though they had two runners in scoring position.
Cincinnati began the bottom of the fourth with a ground-rule double to left field by Joey Votto, who batted second in the order for the first time since 2008.
Brandon Phillips followed with a base hit through the middle of the infield, allowing Votto to race home, only to be thrown out at the plate for the first out of the inning.
While Phillips moved to second on the throw home, he was thrown out at third when attempting to steal the base. The Reds went down 1-2-3 as Jay Bruce followed with a strikeout.
The Reds got another runner on the bases to start their half of the sixth inning with Cozart getting hit by a pitch and moving to second on a wild pitch. From there, it was Simon who moved Cozart to third with a bunt toward the third base side.
As there were two outs against the Reds, Votto came to the plate and kept the runner stranded as he grounded out to second to end the inning.
In the seventh for the Reds, Todd Frazier kept the inning going with a two-out single past first base, but yet again, the Reds couldn't score the runner. A large part of that was Evan Longoria robbing Ryan Ludwick of a base hit, with a diving stop and throw to second for the force out to end the inning.
For the Rays, Logan Forsythe doubled to right field as a pinch hitter in the top of the eighth but was left on the bases following three straight outs by Simon. Simon earned those outs with a fly ball to centerfield, a grind out to second, and on the final batter he faced in the interleague game, a strikeout.
Manny Parra pitched one inning of relief for the Reds, finishing with two strikeouts.
In the bottom of the ninth for the Reds, Billy Hamilton grounded out to the shortstop, followed by Votto forcing a walk in the next at-bat. Phillips, the No. 3 batter in the lineup on Saturday, had a long at-bat where he started 0-2 in the count but worked his way to moving the count full, only to ground out into a 5-4-3 double play to end the game.