HOUSTON — Whatever the outcome of Sunday’s series finals against the Astros, the Reds’ nine-game, three-city road trip through St. Louis, Kansas City and Houston was already a resounding success. Anything else would be gravy.
And who doesn’t like sauce? The Reds are clearly succeeding, as they clinched a 9-7 win in 10 innings and secured a three-game win over reigning World Series champions Houston at Minute Maid Park. Early in the 10th inning against Seth Martinez, TJ Friedl dropped a sacrificial throw at third base and reached it due to a throwing error by Alex Bregman that allowed Nick Senzel to get the go-ahead shot from second base.
With an out, Elly De La Cruz hit Martinez with a nine-pitch at-bat before putting down an RBI single to right field. Jake Fraley’s RBI groundout created a three-run cushion.
The win extended the Reds’ winning streak to eight games and ended the road trip 8-1 while winning 11 of their last 13 games and improving to 37-35.
It was a 5-5 game in the eighth inning when Jonathan India backed off reliever Bryan Abreu’s 3-1 pitch for a solo home run into right field in the opposite direction, giving him the team lead with 10 home runs. With goalkeeper Alexis Díaz unavailable for the second game in a row, Ian Gibaut was called on to complete but gave up the equalizer to force extras.
Cincinnati played catching up for most of the day, trailing 2-0 after one inning and 5-2 in the fourth. That changed early in the sixth inning against Astros starter Ronel Blanco. Matt McLain led to left field with a single and advanced with a pass ball. With an out, De La Cruz landed behind first base and hit the throw with a head-first slide.
Fraley, who hit a home run against Blanco early in the second inning, followed up with an RBI single to right field before being ejected trying to advance to second base.
On the next pitch, Spencer Steer hit a game-winning two-run home run down left field — also his 10th of the season.