The noble tiger is a uncommon beast, however Wednesday night time, there was a sighting in Los Angeles. A NOBLETIGER, for these of you who’re maybe much less on-line than I’m, is a contrived however pleasant acronym: No Outs Bases Loaded Ending in Staff Incapable of Getting Simple Run. In different phrases, it’s a group going from bases loaded and no one out to a scoreless inning, and Cincinnati’s feline accomplishment felt just like the final second earlier than it was washed away by the crushing tide of Los Angeleno excellence.
The Reds began Sport 2 of their Wild Card Sequence towards the Dodgers with a burst of power. A success-by-pitch, a fielding error, a slashed groundball single, and out of the blue the underdogs have been up 2-0 on the indomitable Yoshinobu Yamamoto. They struggled to seek out rather more traction towards him for the subsequent three innings, 9 up and 9 down, however these preliminary two runs gave them a bulwark towards the perpetual Dodger onslaught on the opposite aspect of the sphere.
Zack Littell, Yamamoto’s counterpart, wasn’t fairly as sharp, however he held the Dodgers at bay with smoke and mirrors for 3 innings. Within the fourth, the fixed stress turned an excessive amount of; the underside half of the Dodgers order struck for 2 runs, placing them up 3-2, and the Reds referred to as in Nick Lodolo from the bullpen to flee the inning. After the groups exchanged scoreless frames within the fifth, the stage was set for our fateful inning.
TJ Friedl, Cincinnati’s leadoff hitter, began issues off with a smashed line drive to proper. Spencer Steer adopted by roping a liner of his personal to middle. Gavin Lux chopped one off of house plate that Max Muncy may solely pocket. Abruptly Yamamoto was in a world of bother, with the tying run virtually sure to attain and stress aplenty behind that one. Even higher for the Reds, they’d their 4-5-6 hitters arising.
Yamamoto pitched along with his regular unhurried precision, beginning Austin Hays with two pitches that simply missed the decrease inside nook. Even down 2-0, Yamamoto saved working the perimeters, recognizing a cutter excessive and out of doors, and Hays turned on it. He hit it on a line, however a sinking line; in the long run, it was a one-hopper to Mookie Betts that didn’t bounce till simply in entrance of him. That froze the runners, who weren’t certain if the ball can be caught on the fly. Betts had loads of time to throw house and report the primary out.
Subsequent up was Sal Stewart, the younger phenom who marauded his approach via the minors at 21 and compelled his approach not simply onto the playoff roster, however into the cleanup spot. However you recognize one factor 21-year-olds are? Impatient. Yamamoto’s plan remained unchanged. He threw a sinker too low for ball one. He threw a cutter, too low once more, however Stewart couldn’t lay off. The 1-1 pitch was a slider that fooled Stewart, who was anticipating a letter-high fastball. As a substitute he acquired a breaking ball that clipped the underside of the zone for a roughly unhittable strike two. Now having seen three pitch varieties in three pitches, Stewart was on his again foot when Yamamoto pulled out a nasty curveball, even decrease and farther away from Stewart, drawing a helpless wave for strike three.
The risk wasn’t over. Elly De La Cruz, Cincinnati’s greatest hitter, was batting sixth (look, don’t ask me why, I don’t agree with it) and thus had an opportunity to grab victory from the jaws of defeat. This time Yamamoto started the plate look with a wrinkle. As a substitute of his customary bottom-of-zone nibble, Yamamoto began De La Cruz with a curveball proper down the 101. De La Cruz, absolutely in take mode after seeing Yamamoto carve up his teammates all day with pitches that by no means fairly tickled the fringes of the zone, was locked up for a straightforward strike one.
After a yanked fastball inside took the depend to 1-1, Yamamoto put De La Cruz within the spin cycle. Curveball low. Curveball to the identical location. Fastball excessive. De La Cruz, in swing mode, saved fouling the ball off and staying alive, however he was barely hanging in there towards Yamamoto’s precision. The subsequent pitch was one other hook, sharper and sooner than the primary three he’d proven, and it drew a determined, futile swing. Inning over, risk averted, and identical to that, Cincinnati’s probability of profitable the sport slipped away.
I do know that baseball isn’t often like that. Failing to attain in an inning isn’t the top of the world; you may all the time rating within the subsequent, or your opponents may come up quick and preserve providing you with extra possibilities. However this isn’t a mid-July recreation towards your divisional rival’s injury-weakened lineup. These are the Los Angeles Dodgers you’re going through. Two of the primary three batters reached to start out the underside of the sixth. To make issues a lot a lot worse, these three have been the underside of the order. Two on and one out for Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, et al? I barely felt shocked when Ohtani muscled an RBI single, Betts blasted a double, and (after an intentional go to Freeman) Teoscar Hernández hit a laser beam two-run double to push the result in 7-2.
To be truthful, that wasn’t the solely probability the Reds needed to do some injury with the bases loaded. Within the eighth inning, they once more began scorching, with 4 straight batters reaching base to load them up and minimize the deficit to 8-3. A sacrifice fly acquired them again inside 4, and a Matt McLain stroll then introduced the tying run to the plate. May a miraculous grand slam resurrect the seemingly lifeless and buried Reds and push the defending champions a bit?
It couldn’t. Alex Vesia, who was the group’s greatest common reliever down the stretch earlier than their postseason plans turned to erstwhile starters and future Corridor of Famers, labored Friedl completely whilst Friedl battled to place one thing in play. The 2 did battle on the skin edge, with Vesia portray fastballs each excessive and low and Friedl merely punching them foul. For six pitches, Friedl had his defenses dialed in, leaning over the skin half to counter Vesia’s dialed-in location. However Vesia had the proper counter. After 5 fastballs in his first six pitches, he began his signature slider inside and let it carve throughout the plate. Friedl couldn’t pull the set off; his thoughts noticed a fastball that might miss the plate inside, and he may solely watch in dismay because the slider as an alternative caught the skin nook for strike three, ending the final risk of the sport.
The Dodgers glitterati, for his or her half, did the factor they all the time appear to be doing. Yamamoto was good, permitting solely two unearned runs over 6 2/3 innings. He struck out 9 Reds, walked solely two, and had the ball on a string all night time. These two walks, the truth is, each got here in his final body of labor as he threw a profession excessive 117 pitches. Earlier than then, he was in full command at seemingly all factors. He appeared like top-of-the-line pitchers on this planet, which after all he’s.
The hitting stars did their half too. Even with none house runs, the Dodgers have been relentless. Ohtani reached base twice. Betts had three doubles as a part of a four-hit night time. Hernández smashed that key double. The underside of the lineup even pulled its weight; the 7-9 hitters every had two hits. Once they’re all clicking like this, the Los Angeles lineup seems like an unsolvable riddle, and the Reds didn’t even come shut with their guesses on this sequence. There’s no disgrace in that. The Dodgers are a critical group. Tonight, they confirmed up and took care of enterprise to arrange a conflict with the Phillies in what needs to be an epic NLDS.