Bullpen implosion dooms Cincinnati Reds in 10-5 loss to Cleveland Guardians

A bloop fell into shallow CF to plate a pair of unearned Cleveland Guardians runs. On said bloop, the Reds biggest offseason signing injured himself as he slammed into the team’s most oft-injured player beside him.

Shane Bieber held a no-hitter as the scoreboard reached the Bottom of the 6th, and that all came on a day when the COO of the Cincinnati Reds twice taunted fans with the idea that they’d just pack up shop and move the team if we didn’t fall in line.

It wasn’t exactly the typical Opening Day, and that’s beside the fact that it’s April 12th and the Reds entered the day having already played four games. Despite all of that noise, however...

...the Cincinnati Reds rubbed some dirt on it, rolled up their cliches, and punched their way back into contention in the GABP opener. For a time, at least, (and I really didn’t feel like re-writing most of this for a third time).

A double by Jake Fraley followed a Kyle Farmer walk in the home-half of the 6th, Fraley’s two-bagger breaking up the Bieber no-no bid. Jonathan India then followed with a 2-run double that chased the Cleveland ace, with lefty Anthony Gose brought on to face Tyler Naquin in a big spot.

Naquin, of course, has been pretty much a platoon-bat only since joining the Reds, but since Tommy Pham had previously exited after his collision with Nick Senzel in CF, Aristides Aquino - normally the other-half of the Naquin platoon - was already in the game. That left Naquin up in a big spot against his former club, and he responded by socking the everloving hell out of a ball, a 2-run dinger off the batter’s eye in CF that leveled the score at 4-4 and brought the entirety of the sold-out GABP crowd to life.

Unfortunately, that was the end of the good vibes on the day. Kyle Farmer singled to lead off a would-be rally in the Bottom of the 8th, but was doubled off 1B on a flyout to LF because he’d taken off to try to steal on the pitch. That sucked the life out of the stadium, as did the decision to turn to Hunter Strickland for the 9th after Tony Santillan looked brilliant in an 11 pitch Top of the 8th.

As it turns out, that call got magnified immediately courtesy of a leadoff double and an eventual 2-run dinger by Andres Gimenez. Strickland later exited after letting another pair of Guardians reach base, prompting David Bell to turn to Daniel Duarte to try to get out of the jam.

It kept right on jamming, however. Steven Kwan, who has never been retired in the history of ever, reached to load the bags ahead of José Ramirez, who parked a grand slam into the RF seats to further salt these wounds of ours. That left the scoreboard at 10-4 in favor of Cleveland, and while the Reds picked up a run in the Bottom of the 10th, that’s all she wrote on this Opening Day.

It kept right on jamming, however. Steven Kwan, who has never been retired in the history of ever, reached to load the bags ahead of José Ramirez, who parked a grand slam into the RF seats to further salt these wounds of ours. That left the scoreboard at 10-4 in favor of Cleveland, and while the Reds picked up a run in the Bottom of the 10th, that’s all she wrote on this Opening Day.