Kenta Maeda Out Duels Reds Bullpen To Even The Series

 

 

Kenta Maeda pitched five scoreless innings for the Minnesota Twins against a Reds team that has run out of starting pitching. The Reds' bullpen could not match Maeda. The Twins evened the series with a 7-0 win.

The Twins scored first. Opener Fernando Cruz walked Max Kepler to lead off the second inning. Kepler stole second as Willi Castro struck out. After his fourth strike out of the game, David Bell, called on Buck Farmer, who walked Ryan Jeffers. Matt Wallner singled to score Kepler but Buck Farmer retired the Twins' Kyle Farmer on a fly to center.

Buck Farmer and Daniel Duarte held the Twins off the scoreboard through the third.

Jeffers lined his 11th home run of the season in the fourth inning against the Reds' fourth pitcher Alex Young.

Maeda retired the first 11 Reds' batters in order. Spencer Steer doubled with two outs in the fourth. Jake Fraley walked and the pair pulled a double steal. Castro made a sliding catch against Tyler Stephenson's bid to tie the game.

"Maeda made it tough for us. He really had the split working. We struck out a lot. It was one of those nights," David Bell said.

Minnesota added two runs against Ben Lively in the sixth. With one out, Matt Wallner, Kyle Farmer, Edouard Julien and Jorge Polanco placed singles before Royce Lewis hit into a doublewplay.

Maeda pitched five innings, allowing a hit and a walk while striking out eight. Kody Funderburk, a left hander relieved Maeda.

Lively walked Max Kepler, the lead off batter in the seventh inning. Castro followed with his eighth home run of the season into the first row of the right field bleachers.

Lively was slated to eat most of the middle innings. He gave up five runs on seven hits and four walks in four frames.

"The story of the game for me was we weren't able to score runs. We were in a situation tonight where a lot of guys were going to pitch. Ben was going to pick up those innings but when you're not scoring it puts a lot of pressure on the pitchings. We have to turn the page, quickly," Bell said.

Castro robbed Stephenson for the second time leaping above the fence to make the catch with a runner on base.

"Castro took four runs off the board tonight," Bell said. "It is amazing how a play like that can absolutely change a game. It changes how we manage the game and how they manage the game. It is all about players making plays. They were able to do that tonight."

Julien scored on a wild pitch by Derek Law in the eighth.  Lively was charged with five runs in four innings.