The Cincinnati Reds’ postseason hopes took a crushing blow on Saturday evening as they blew a 9-0 lead in opposition to the Pirates. The host Reds wound up shedding the sport 13-12. For Pittsburgh, it is their largest comeback within the 133-year historical past of the franchise.
After the third inning, the Reds held a 9-0 lead. Quickly after, although, the Pirates commenced a methodical comeback for the ages.They put one run on the board within the fourth. Within the sixth, the Pirates plated 5, three of which got here on Bryan Reynolds’ twenty third homer of the season. Then within the seventh a bases-clearing double by Alfonso Rivas introduced the Buccos all the best way again:
Along with the franchise historical past famous above, that nine-run margin is tied for the most important blown lead in Reds’ franchise historical past. It is a mark they final equaled in 2004.
The Pirates would go on to attain 13 unanswered runs earlier than the Reds tried a comeback of their very own. Down 13-9 going into the underside of the eighth, the Reds tallied two runs in that body and one other within the ninth. Additionally within the ninth, the Reds had the tying run on third base with one out, however Elly De La Cruz struck out and Jonathan India flied out to finish the menace and the sport.
All of it yielded a predictably wild win-expectancy chart:
The Pirates had beforehand come again from eight runs down on 4 events, most lately in 1994 in opposition to the Astros. By no means had they surmounted a nine-run deficit — till Saturday at Cincy.
As for the Reds, they’ve now misplaced 4 video games in a row at a time once they can least afford such a skid. Saturday’s unbelievable defeat drops them to 79-77 on the season, 2.5 video games out of the ultimate wild-card spot within the Nationwide League, and chasing the Cubs and Marlins. They’ve six video games left on the regular-season schedule, together with Sunday’s collection finale in opposition to Pittsburgh.
Coming into Saturday’s slate, SportsLine gave the Reds an 18.3% probability of creating the playoffs, however that determine will likely be decrease after the beautiful loss to the Pirates. If the Reds wind up lacking the playoffs by a single sport or through mathematical tiebreaker, this one will sting much more than it already does.
