But Brad Brach, Heath Hembree and Amir Garrett were unable to accomplish it.
The Royals, losers in 22 of their previous 26 games and last place in the American League Central, scored four runs to snatch away an improbable 7-6 victory.
The coup d’état was provided by veteran Royals catcher Salvador Perez. With a runner on third, he ripped a Garrett pitch over left fielder Aristides Aquino’s head for the walk-off win. It was Perez’s the seventh career walk-off hit.
It was a bullpen blow-up for the Reds after it had pitched 16 2/3 straight innings without an earned run.
And it ruined a sparking, sterling performance by Reds starter Luis Castillo, who held the Royals to one run and three hits over seven innings.
The first-place Milwaukee Brewers were rained out in New York, giving the Reds an opportunity to pull within 5 1/2 games. Instead, they fell back to 6 1/2.
It looked as if there would be no need for the Reds to stage any late-game heroics on this night.
After coming from behind in their last five straight victories, the Reds scored early and often to snag an early advantage.
They attacked Kansas City starter Kris Bubic for five runs and seven hits in the first four innings, including a two-run triple by Joey Votto and a two-run home run by Kyle Farmer. Farmer contributed three hits.
The loss came with All-Star Jesse Winker sitting in the dugout.
Since hitting three home runs in St. Louis that lifted his batting average to .350, Winker is 21 for 96, a .215 average that has dipped his average to .306.
That enabled manager David Bell to shuffle his batting order and he placed two rookies, Jonathan India and Tyler Stephenson one-two in the order.
When it was pointed out to Bell before the game, he said, “They don’t feel like rookies to me anymore, so I didn’t even think about it. It’s a good reminder (that they’re rookies), but they are such a big part of our team and a big part of our offense.”
Both India and Stephenson reached base their first two times in the batter’s box and there was doubt either would play.
India sat out Monday with a twisted ankle and Stephenson is battered and bruised. They went through supervised workouts before the game to make certain of their playability.
“That’s really just an indication of how much these guys want to play,” said Bell. “From a medical standpoint I had to make sure that putting them in there wouldn’t have any long-term impact on their health.”
The only health impact was the hurt India and Stephenson (three hits) on Royals pitcher Bubic.
While the Reds were having fun offensively, the Royals were having no fun against resurgent Castillo. But once Castillo left, the fun shifted to the Royals. One of the three hits off Castillo was a harmless, at the time, solo home run in the sixth by Michael Taylor when it was 5-0.
Cionel Perez replaced Castillo in the eighth and poof went the bullpen’s spotless streak.
He struck out Hansler Alberto but catcher Stephenson missed the ball and Alberto reached first on a passed ball. Cincinnati native Andrew Benintendi cleared the right field wall for a home run that cut the Reds’ lead to 6-3.
Then came the fateful and decisive ninth.
Brach put the first two Royals on base via walk and a hit batsman and a run scored when third baseman Eugenio Suarez permitted Taylor’s ground ball to streak between his legs for an agonizing error.
That cut the lead to 6-4 with runners on third and second with no outs, forcing Bell to replace Brach with Hembree.
Hembree struck out pinch-hitter Jorge Soler. No. 9 hitter Nicky Lopez lobbed a two-run game-tying single to left. Left fielder Aquino’s throw home whistled over catcher Stephenson’s head, enabling Lopez, the winning run, to scoot all the way to third.
Hembree walked Whit Merrifield on four pitches and Garrett was brought in to face Benintendi. He struck out Benintendi on a full count for the second out and faced Salvador Perez.
Perez whacked the second pitch he saw over Aquino’s head in left field to end it.
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