A Collapse Between Blowouts as Reds Drop Series to Nats
by William Meiners
Let’s go backwards for this series. Once called the businessman’s special (keep your women and children at home), the Reds flexed offensively on Thursday afternoon like never before in the young season, pounding the Washington Nationals 15-1. The buzzkill, however, is that the shellacking accounted for the lone win against the Nats in a trio of midweek games.
The Reds were blown out Tuesday night by the non-corrupt residents of the nation’s capital. More than a few of whom are representative of the Hispanic origins that so offend the current administration. Pitcher Brady Singer took an early-inning low liner off the ankle bone. Jeff Brantley, the “Cowboy” and the best color commentator in baseball (for my money, which ain’t much), spoke in real time about Singer’s inability to push off the rubber, directly resulting in back-to-back dingers from James Wood and Luis García Jr.
Singer gave up three homers in all in a short outing. To make him feel less lonely, a threesome of Reds relievers — Moll, Mey, and Santillan, as if pitching batting practice — each allowed long balls. The 10-4 loss just the latest of laughers where the Reds seemed non-competitive from start to finish. The Pirates have scored runs like Steeler touchdowns in a 5-1 record against the boys from Queen City. The Angels, Rockies, and Astros all reached double digits in the homer-friendly Great American Ball Park that was less accommodating to the Reds on those occasions.
The hump day loss, however, sandwiched between slaughters, may have been the Reds worst to date. The home team led 5-0 after one full inning. In what could be the “challenge of the season,” Spencer Steer turned a called third strike into a ball before earning a two-out walk. Nathaniel Lowe made it back-to-back walks. Then Tyler Stephenson launched a grand slam.
They should have been laughing all the way to the win column. But Nick Lodolo promptly surrendered four runs in the top of the second. One inning later, the Nats notched it at 5. The Reds rebounded for one in the bottom of the third, but Washington tied them up again at 6 in the top of the fifth.
Uneasy Cincinnati fans, bemoaning a sudden silencing of bats, may have sensed the collapse in progress. Both Elly De La Cruz and Matt McClain led off late innings with doubles, yet neither made it home. A popout bunt off the bat of Dane Myers in the last of the ninth proved particularly disheartening.
As is his wont of late, Santillan gave up a two-run blast to Daylen Lile in the extra frame. Needing two to tie, the Cowboy called a two-run shot by Steer only to backtrack it, noting the “fan interference” of a gloved Reds spectator appearing to catch the ball right near the yellow line. Ask any Baltimore Orioles fan of a certain age if they still can’t see that Yankee Stadium kid who guided Derek Jeter’s flyout into an ALCS homer 30 years ago. Then show them the video of this goofball in Cincy. Steer was granted a double, and security escorted the Reds fan out. The damn Yankee fans heralded their interferer a hero, whom they effectively “chaired through the market-place.
Now mid-May, the Reds lurk last in the Central, just two games over .500. They’re 3-8 since sitting atop the division on May 1st. Here’s hoping they didn’t use up all their Thursday hits in Cincy before tripping up to Cleveland.
William Meiners is the editor of Sport Literate. Among his summer 2026 plans are the documentation of 33 Reds’ series. That should be about 600 to 700 words every few days. If you don’t expect too much breakdown or analysis, outside of his own troubled head, you may not be disappointed. From losing streaks through high-water marks, he’ll follow the club, sometimes literally, from the reluctant spring of early May through the dog days of August. Then he’s off to something else.