Third baseman Eugenio Suarez hit three home runs during the weekend series against the Arizona Diamondbacks to move level with Christian Yelich and Cody Bellinger on 44 home runs. The trio is just a single home run behind joint leaders Mike Trout and Pete Alonso.
Embed from Getty ImagesSuarez’s continued domination of opposing pitchers was one of the very few highlights in the series. The Reds lost 7-5 in Game one and were then shut out 2-0 in the second game.
From a Reds perspective, the finale produced the most excitement.
Firstly, Suarez tied the score 3-3 with a home run (his second of the game) in the eighth inning.
With one out in the bottom of the ninth, Jose Peraza and Phil Ervin singled. David Bell introduced Michael Lorenzen to pinch-hit for Josh VanMeter, and the pitcher doubled to drive in the winning runs.
Embed from Getty ImagesWith all the usual caveats about small sample size, it is still difficult not to be enthused by Lorenzen’s two-way play. The 27-year-old has a 3.13 ERA over 74 innings while slashing .333/.417/.571 with six runs and five RBI in 24 plate appearances.
The single by Ervin was his only hit of the series. The quartet of Ervin, VanMeter, Aristides Aquino and Freddy Galvis went 3-for-37 (0.081 AVG) over the three-game series. The Diamondbacks pitching was good … but not that good.
With only one series win in the last five, Reds will be hoping to make the most of the matchup against the struggling Mariners when they travel to the west coast on Tuesday.
The opening game sees Trevor Bauer on the mound against Justus Sheffield. Unfortunately the first pitch is 3:10am, but a rain delay will mean that we might see a couple of innings over breakfast.
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