by 
This series isn’t the first time Coors Field has been a chamber of horrors for the Cincinnati Reds. The technique of torture has changed — bloop hits, great defense and taking extra bases have replaced home run derby — but it’s exquisite pain, all the same. The past few days, the Reds have contributed to their own misery with poor pitching and shoddy defense.
Tonight, the Rockies chosen technique was making Jesse Winker go 0-for-6 and sending the game to extra innings, a situation that has been so favorable to the Reds in 2021. But thanks to superb pitching by Tyler Mahle, Tejay Antone and Heath Hembree, and hitting by Nick Castellanos and Kyle Farmer the Reds put an end to the torment, at least for a night. David Bell’s club is 18-19 and has a chance to split the series and have a winning road trip. The 2021 Reds are 7-2 in extra innings.
Offense
Despite the favorable hitting environment of Coors Field and the weak track record of the Rockies pitching staff, the Reds offense was stymied until extra innings other than a third-inning home run by Nick Castellanos that just cleared the left field fence. Tyler Mahle, who had walked, was on base.
Nick Castellanos should be back in Colorado in a couple months. ⭐️ pic.twitter.com/JMlfAV16Po
— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) May 16, 2021
That tweet makes reference to the 2021 All-Star Game being played in Denver.
Jesse Winker has been the best hitter in the National League this year and come through in countless important situations. But tonight, he made outs in two big opportunities.
In the top of the 7th. With the score 2-2, Jonathan India worked a walk. Former Reds pitcher Robert Stephenson then lost his control. He hit Alex Blandino, threw a wild pitch and walked Tyler Mahle (who was batting in the 7th inning) on four pitches. That brought Jesse Winker to the plate. Rockies manager Bud Black countered by bringing in RHP Justin Lawrence. Winker was 0-3 coming into this plate appearance.Winker grounded out to second base.
In the 9th inning, with the score still 2-2 and facing Colorado closer Daniel Bard, Kyle Farmer and Jonathan India led off with line drive singles to CF. Alex Blandino, asked to bunt, popped up to third base for an out. Shogo Akiyama hit a soft ground ball over second base where the Reds were lucky it wasn’t turned into an inning-killing double play. That brought up Winker with runners at first and third and two outs. Winker struck out swinging through a 91-mph Bard slider.
Pitching
Tyler Mahle continued to lead the Reds starting rotation, coming through with a great start when the club needed it. Mahle came into his start among league leaders in strikeouts and the composite stat of xwOBA. Mahle has relied on a 95-mph fastball with great spin that stays up the zone. The concern in him pitching in Coors Field is that Mahle has always been a fly-ball pitcher.
But tonight he pitched a terrific game. He threw seven innings, tying a career high. He struck out four and didn’t walk a batter. He gave up a long two-run homer in the first inning, but shut the door afterward.
The drama in the top of the 7th was matched in the bottom of the inning. With the score 2-2, Mahle gave up a leadoff triple to Garrett Hampson. The Reds were forced to play the infield in to cut down the go-ahead run at the plate. With Lucas Sims warming up, Bell left Mahle in to work out of the jam.
Mahle got the first out getting C Elias Diaz to line out to right field. The ball was hit short enough that Hampson didn’t try to score. Nick Castellanos’ one-hop throw was right on the plate. The Rockies then sent LH Charlie Blackmon in to pinch hit. Mahle gambled that Blackmon couldn’t get around on his fastball and won his bet, striking Blackmon out on a high heater. For the final out, Mahle had to retire the dangerous leadoff hitter Raimel Tapia. Mahle dialed up a couple 98-mph fastball and got Tapia to ground to second base.
Tejay Antone pitched the 8th and retired the Colorado 2-3-4 hitters in order. He stayed in for the bottom of the 9th and retired the side in order. Although the final out of the 9th was a 405 fly ball out to center field that Akiyama made a tremendous play to field.
10th Inning
In the 10th inning, Winker started as the runner on second base. Nick Castellanos walked on a full count. Tyler Stephenson came in to pinch hit and appeared to have drawn a walk but ball four was called a strike. On the next pitch, the Reds rookie catcher grounded into a 3-6-3 double play. Eugenio Suarez grounded out softly to end the inning.
Lucas Sims pitched the 10th for the Reds needing to protect a 4-4 score. Speedy Garrett Hampson started at second base. The first Rockies batter grounded softly to second, but that got Hampson to third. With the Reds playing a 5-man infield, Sims struck out the next batter and got Connor Joe to ground to third to end the threat, sending the game to the 11th inning.
11th Inning
Suarez started the 11th inning on second base. After Tucker Barnhart struck out, Kyle Farmer pulled a 412-foot home run down the left field line. Farmer has had a tremendous road trip, both at the plate and in the field. He was batting .308 before tonight’s three hits with a walk-rate of 10.3%. He made a couple slick plays at short tonight as well.
FARMER HOMERED, BUM BA-DUM BUM BUM BUM BUM. pic.twitter.com/xLlWJhL9MW
— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) May 16, 2021
Protecting a 2-run lead, Sims pitched the 11th. First, Sims broke leadoff batter Trevor Story’s bat for an out. But then Sims walked Ryan McMahon. Josh Fuentes lined a double to deep left-center to tie the game 4-4. Sims notched two strikeouts to end the inning.
12th Inning
Jesse Winker started the 12th inning on second base. Nick Castellanos hit the second pitch he saw into right field for a double, scoring Winker and making the score 5-4. Nick Senzel, who had been held out yesterday and today due to a heel bruise, pinch hit in the pitcher’s spot. Senzel singled sharply to left. Eugenio Suarez grounded out to deep shortstop but it scored Castellanos from third to make the score 6-4. Tucker Barnhart lined into an inning ending double play.
Heath Hembree pitched the 12th with a 6-4 lead. He retired the Rockies 1-2-3. The Rockies were out of players and had to have a pitcher take the final at bat.
Stats
Hardest-Hit Balls
- Alex Blandino | 105.6 mph, ground out
- Nick Castellanos |104.4 mph, home run
- Jesse Winker | 102.7 mph, fly out
- Nick Castellanos |102.3, line out
Unluckiest Out of the Day
- Eugenio Suarez | .850 xBA | line out
Highest Velocities By Pitcher
- Tyler Mahle | 97.7 mph
- Tejay Antone | 97.8 mph
- Lucas Sims | 94.4 mph
- Heath Hembree | 95.6 mph
Highest Pitch Spins
- Lucas Sims | 3505 rpm | Curve
Most Pitch Movement
- Tejay Antone | 53 inches vertical drop | Curve
- Lucas Sims | 18 inches horizontal | Curve
Team Expected Batting Averages
- Reds | .323
- Rockies | .268
What’s Next?
The Reds and Rockies play the series finale tomorrow afternoon at 3:10 ET. Jeff Hoffman returns to Coors Field for the Reds. Somehow, Robert Stephenson isn’t starting for Colorado, Antonio Senzatela is.
Photo: Rick Ulfreich (Icon Sportswire)
For more in-depth thoughts on today’s game and a preview of what’s ahead, consider subscribing to MORNING SPIN, our daily newsletter. We’ll also analyze Reds news, give you a Stat of the Day, answer your burning questions, and more. You can get three issues for free; after that, it’s just $5 per month. Join us!
Thanks, Steve, nice recap. Watching that game exhausted me. From the 7th inning on, it was riveting. I couldn’t believe that Mahle was batting for himself with runners on 2nd and 3rd and two out, even though I wanted to see him pitch 7 innings. I guess for Bell it was a combination of wanting Mahle to go 7 and being so short of bench players.
I had the same reaction with Mahle batting. Surprised, but also thought he had at least another inning in him. The bench was short. Bell ended up using Senzel, Stephenson and Akiyama. On the one hand, general strategy now dictates you want the starter to get through the order twice, no matter how many pitches, then turn the game over to the bullpen. But that doesn’t seem feasible with the Reds pen right now. Not looking for starters to go 8-9, but in this case, going 7 made a difference.
I’m coming around to like the extra inning format, not just because it has served so well for the Reds. It’s exciting and I don’t miss marathon extra inning games. At first I felt it would hurt the integrity of the game but don’t feel that way after watching a number of them. It feels like the team that wins has to earn it.
When you score a run in the top of the inning, it’s a completely different feeling, knowing that the other team will start with a runner on second. An insurance run becomes more important. In a sense it’s more than an insurance run, because even if you score it, the other team starts the bottom of the half with the potential tying run at the plate.
In this case, Senzel’s hard single and Suarez’ RBI groundout felt critical.
I would describe myself as agnostic at first about the extra-inning format. I’m missing the “don’t you dare change baseball” gene, but wondered how gimmicky it would feel. Now I love it. I dreaded the long slogs through 13-16 innings. Just hated them. This format gets the games settled quickly and is exciting. The run variance of zero-one-multiple is palpable.