Jonathan India erased a night of frustration with a two-run single to cap a six-run eighth inning to give the Reds a second straight 7-6 over the Texas Rangers
The Reds bullpen was again the unsung hero after another poor start by the starting pitcher. This time it was Luke Weaver.
Derek Law, Reiver Sanmartin and Alexis Diaz blanked the hard hitting Rangers over the final 3 2/3 innings to allow the late rally, that wasted a great start by Texas starter Martin Perez.
For the second straight night the Rangers bullpen failed manager Bruce Bochy.
Jonathan Hernandez, Cole Ragans and veteran Ian Kennedy were the culprits.
The Reds have parlayed singles and walks into big rallies the last two nights to score 14 runs without a home run. They have gone eight games without hitting a ball out of homer friendly Great American Ball Park.
Ragans started the fateful eighth on the mound for Texas. He got a ground ball out of Spencer Steer. But he hit Stuart Fairchild with a pitch. Tyler Stephenson hit his second single of the game. Henry Ramos drilled a pitch off Ragans glove. It rolled far enough for Ramos to reach with his second hit as Fairchild scored. Kevin Newman popped out. Senzel drove in a run with a sharp single. a Barrero walked to load the bases. The left handed hitting TJ Friedl was due up to face the left handed Ragans. David Bell countered with Wil Myers, who was scheduled to start but was a late scratch with neck spasms. Bruce Bochy played the percentages and brought in Kennedy to face Myers. Bell countered with Jake Fraley, who tied the game with a bloop double down the left field line.
"I was trying to stay simple, said Fraley. "You have an idea, who they are going to bring in match up wise. You don't know when DB will put you in the game but we have the ability. I knew how Kennedy was going to attack me. I just tried to stay on it. I was able to eliminate the bottom half of the zone so I didn't chase the split. As soon as I had it i knew it was going straight. It didn't have any slice to it."
India hit a hard single to center to send the winning run home, after going 0-for-4 and unable to solve Perez, leaving four runners on base in his last two at bats.
"It was a tough night for me at the plate," India said. "Perez was tough on me. I can't remember when I struck out on three straight swings like I did in the first inning. You can't really dwell on at bats. You think about the next one."
Alexis Diaz saved the game for Sanmartin, striking out two batters with the tying run on second base.
Nathaniel Lowe homered and doubled off Luke Weaver to lead stake the Rangers to an early lead.
Lowe's third home run of the season came with two outs in the first inning. His double led off the fourth. He stopped at third on a double by the hot hitting Adolis Garcia. Lowe misread the ball that Nick Senzel cut off on one bounce. He tagged at second, believing that Senzel would catch it. Weaver, who allowed four first inning runs in his last start, struck out Josh Jung.
Jonah Heim grounded to Tyler Stephenson right at the first base bag. Stephenson took his eye off the ball, trying to throw Lowe out at home. The first baseman dropped the ball and had to be content to step on the base to retire the batter.
Marcus Semien hit his fifth home run of the season in the fifth inning.
Travis Jankowski and Garcia singled and scored on Jung's double to put the Rangers up 5-0.
Ranger's left handed starter, Perez, was shutting out the Reds on one hit through four innings. The Reds put runners on first and third on singles by Senzel and Luke Maile but Jonathan India popped out the the first basemen, Lowe to end the mild threat.
Weaver faced a mild threat in Josh Smith, the shortstop, hitting .162 but Smith hit his first home run of the season and third of his career to extend the Rangers' lead to 6-0.
Derek Law took over for Weaver, who gave up six runs on eight hits in 5 2/3 innings. He walked three and struck out eight.
The Reds avoided their fourth white wash in eight games with a run in the seventh off Perez. Henry Ramos beat out a ground ball into the hole at shortstop. Smith threw wild to first and Ramos moved to second. Kevin Newman and Senzel singled to break the shut out. Perez struck out Barrero then left in favor of Jonathan Hernandez.
Pinch hitter TJ Friedl struck out and India flew out to center to end the inning.
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