The Reds needed a win over Washingon Nationals' ace Max Scherzer to win the series and put together a winning homestand. It turned into a task too tall.
Scherzer struck out a season-high 15 Reds' batters and Washington won the series in a 4-1 verdict.
Scherzer was stingy. He struck out six of the first 10 Reds' batters and allowed one base runner. Jesse Winker was hit by a pitch. Scherzer was five short of his career-high of 20 when he fanned Detroit Tiger hitters on May 11, 2016 . He struck out 15 Philadelphia Phillies batters on May 16, 2018, He threw 120 pitches.
"Scherzer has been doing that for years," David Bell said. "He was as good as he could be today."
The Reds managed three hits off Scherzer all doubles.
"It seems like Scherzer has seven pitches and he can tunnel all of them. He sequences them very well. You really have to grind out at bats against him," said Barnhart who hit one of the doubles.
Sonny Gray was more hospitable to the visitors. Trea Turner doubled over the head of Yasiel Puig. Hot hitting Anthony Rendon drove Turner home with a single in a bizzaro inning. Both right-handed batters got hits off Gray while the Reds' starter struck out all three left-handed hitters.
"Gray was good," Bell said. "I think the first inning took a lot out of him but to his credit he bounced back."
It was the left-handers that he struck out that took the steam out of Gray early.
"The at bats by Parra and Soto took a lot out of me in the first inning," said Gray. "They really battled."
Washington added a run in the fourth. Rendon, who is the sixth leading NL hitter, singled to open the inning. Renson has reached base in 19 straight games. Juan Soto forced Rendon at second base. Kurt Suzuki got the run home with a double.
"I needed to make a better pitch to Suzuki in the fourth inning," said Gray of the Nationals' catcher who got the key two-out double.
Joey Votto broke Scherzer's spell with a bloop double to opne the bottom of the fourth. It was his 382nd career double that put him in fourth place on the Reds' all-time list, passing Johnny Bench. Derek Dietrich broke the shutout with a double to the right field corner.
Gray left the game for a pinch hitter. He worked five innings, allowed two runs on five hits and a walk. Gray struck out four.
Amir Garrett started the sixth for the Reds. In his last six games coming into the appearance, Garrett stuck out 15 batters our of the 19 outs he recorded.
The Nationals added on two runs in the eighth against David Hernanadez. Rendon walked and Soto singled to right. Raisel Iglesias relieved Hernandez and walked Suzuki to load the bases. Brian Dozier hit a ground ball single to score Rendon and Soto.
We tried every thing we could to keep it a one-run game," Bell said. "As good as Scherzer was, we still had a chance."
Scherzer gave up a leadoff double to Tucker Barnhart in the eighth but got Jose Peraza to pop out, then struck out Senzel in a nine-pitch at bat. Votto was the 15th victim on a called third strike.
Sean Doolittle earned an easy save, adding a strikeout to the Reds' woes.
Sonny Gray
Tucker Barnhart
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