A day later, the Cubs enjoyed the first laugh, the last laugh and most of the laughs in between at Great American Ball Park in front of a crowd of 27,189 fans, the majority of them wearing Chicago blue. The Cubs beat the Reds 12-8 Saturday to ensure they will win their seventh series in the last eight against Cincinnati.
PHOTOS: Reds vs. Cubs
The Cubs won this game with three swings of the bat. Those swings produced 10 runs. Two of those swings came against Reds starter Cody Reed, who allowed seven earned runs in two innings.
Reed didn’t have much to say after the game. This was his chance to prove he belongs in the starting rotation after four scoreless appearances in relief, and if Tim Adleman continues pitching well and Rookie Davis returns from injury, Reed could find himself right back in the bullpen.
“I wasn’t that good,” Reed said. “‘I’ll just keep on keeping on, pretty much.”
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The Reds (9-9) lost their fourth straight game. They are 2-7 on this homestand with one game left Sunday. The Cubs (10-7) lead the Reds by 1½ games in the division.
Reed gave up a three-run home run by Anthony Rizzo in the first and a grand slam to Wilson Contreras in the second. Wildness plagued him. He walked five batters. His day ended after two innings and 69 pitches.
Lisalverto Bonilla, called up to the Reds from Triple-A Louisville on Tuesday, took over for Reed and made his Reds debut. He allowed four earned runs on three hits in five innings. A three-run home run by Jason Heyward in the sixth put the game out of reach.
The Reds offense did its part. Joey Votto hit a three-run home run and drove in two more runs. Eugenio Suarez hit two home runs.
The Reds couldn’t overcome Reed’s poor performance. He looked like the pitcher who was 0-7 with a 7.36 ERA in 10 starts as a rookie in 2016, not the pitcher coming off six straight perfect innings in relief.
“The talent is in there,” Reds manager Bryan Price said. “It’s part our responsibility but also his responsibility to extract that talent and let it work. It’s going to sort itself out. I think he’s a big-league pitcher. If it’s as a starter or as a reliever, that’s undefined, and we don’t have to define him at his age, but we’ve got to find a way to put us in a spot where he can help our ballclub.
“We can’t use every season as a trial-and-error season. We do have to take steps forward. I think we have to start the season, but we can’t use every year that way where we bring up young pitchers and introduce them and put up with the growing pains. We have to take bigger steps with the younger pitching than we have to this point.”
SUNDAY’S GAME
Cubs at Reds, 1:10 p.m., FS Ohio, 700, 1410
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