The Reds did't win their third game until the 16th game of the season in 2022. The longest winning streak was five games. They fell to a 3-22 record but the 7-6 win over the Chicago Cubs erased the bitter memory.
The Cubs came to town licking their chops, trying to take the Reds down in the opener of a three-game series.
Two non-roster players who made the team in spring training were key factors in the game.
Jason Vosler hit a three-run home run. Derek Law earned the save on a good defensive play by Vosler, who didn't start the game.
It looked like the gang from the northside of Chicago were going to do that against Cincinnati. They scored three fast runs off starter Connor Overton in the first inning.
Nico Hoerner and Dansby Swanson opened with singles. Overton struck out Reds' killer, Ian Happ but a newcomer to the Cubs from the Los Angeles Dodgers, Cody Bellinger hit a three-run home run. Trey Mancini and Eric Hosmer also singled in the inning but Overton was able to hold the line.
Cubs' starter, Drew Smyly, who owns a 7-5 career record against the Reds with a 2.92 ERA. He had allowed only 12 runs in 37 innings coming into the game.
The Reds retaliated with three runs of their own in the first inning.
Jonathan India walked to start the game. Spencer Steer and Wil Myers hit singles to score India. Tyler Stephenson singled to load the bases. Kevin Newman tied the game with a two-run single.
Jose Barrero singled to open the Reds second inning with a single but left the game with tightness in his right hamstring. Vosler ran for him. TJ Friedl bunted. Smyly fielded but flipped to an empty first base. The scorer ruled it a single and two-base error. India's ground ball put the Reds in the lead.
Overton pitched three scoreless innings but ran into more trouble in the fifth. Swanson singled and Happ doubled. David Bell brought in Ian Gibaut. He coaxed Bellinger to pop out. Mancini sent the tying run home with a ground out. Gibaut hit Patrick Wisdom with a pitch. Hosmer's double put the Cubs ahead 6-4.
The Reds returned fire. Stephenson singled against Smyly. Stuart Fairchild was hit by a pitch. Vosler hit his second home run in as many days and the Reds lead 7-6 after five innings.
"It is so much fun just to watch Jason (Vosler)," Bell said. "He didn't even start the game but he stayed ready. He is excited to show what kind of player he is. He winds up being a big part of a great win."
Fernando Cruz, Reiver Sanmartin and Buck Farmer nursed the lead into the ninth inning.
Derek Law took the ball in the ninth facing Bellinger, Mancini and Wisdom. He navigated the inning, surviving two-out singles by Wisdom and Hosmer, for his first save of the year and first since 2019 with Toronto.
"I can't remember the last hitter, said Law who retired Miles Mastrobuoni on a hard ground out to Vosler at first. "I threw a cutter up and in. He squared it up a little bit. Thank God we have Vosler on our team right now."
"Derek is another player who has had a lot of success in the big leagues but in a lot of ways has become a better pitcher than he has ever been," Bell said. "Just the timing of the guys career, he's a better pitcher. He's having fun. He knows what he needs to do."
It had been a long time between saves for Law.
"Maybe my last save was against the Orioles in 2019," Law recalled. "I actually think I got Mancini out for that one. It was great to keep it rolling for us."
Barrero's injury is not serious.
"It was precautionary. I was aware that he needed to be stretched out, playing a new position," Bell said. "If he was playing shortstop I would have left him in. He wanted to stay in. According to our trainer Sean McQueeney he is available tomorrow."
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