The Reds put their leadoff runner on base in five innings, but scored in only one because they ran the bases like a tee-ball team — run until you are out.
—It began in the top of the first when Jonathan India was hit by the first pitch of the game. He stole second, the only positive thing the Reds did on the basepaths.
He moved to third on a ground ball by Elly De La Cruz and Tyler Stephenson walked, putting runners on third and first with one out.
Then came the dreaded run-on-contact play that has plagued and haunted the Reds all season with its constant failures.
Spencer Steer grounded hard to third and India broke for home and was out. TJ Friedl struck out and the Reds didn’t score.
—They scored their only two runs in the third when Stephenson led off with a single, Steer tripled and Ty France hit a sacrifice fly that gave the Reds a 2-0 lead. But they left the bases loaded.
—De La Cruz led off the fourth with a ground single to shallow right and did what he often does on singles — he tried to stretch it into a double and was thrown out.
—Santiago Espinal broke a 0 for 10 skid with a single to open the sixth and stole second. But Jake Fraley struck out, Noelvi Marte flied to right and India struck out.
—De La Cruz walked to begin the seventh and tried to steal second. He was called safe, but replay/review in New York reversed the call and he was out.
Through all the baserunnng misery, rookie Rhett Lowder kept the Twins quiet as the Reds sought to complete a three-game sweep.
He gave up a run in the fourth when the first two Twins singled and after the Reds turned a double play Willie Castro singled home a run.
Lowder took a 2-1 lead into the sixth inning and retired the first batter. But Carlos Santana doubled and Trevor Larnach walked on four pitches.
Manager David Bell summoned Tony Santillan from the bullpen with the score still 2-1. He struck out Castro for the second out.
But Ryan Jeffers doubled to tie it and Brooks Lee blooped a two-run single to center to give the Twins a 4-2 lead.
Two of those three runs were charged to Lowder, leading to a loss. He is 1-2 despite a 1.74 earned run average.
Justin Wilson retired the first two in the seventh and then the Twins decided to do to the Reds what the Reds did to them in the first two games of the series.
On Friday, the Reds scored six runs in the seventh inning on their way to an 8-4 win. On Saturday, they scored nine runs in the fourth inning en route to an 11-1 win.
It was the Twins this time. With two outs and nobody on, the next six Twins reached base during a five-run inning that put the game away.
With two outs, Wilson walked Royce Lewis on four pitches. The veteran Carlos Santana crushed a two-run homer off the upper deck facade in left field and it was 6-2.
Larnach doubled and Casey Legumina replaced Wilson. His first pitch slammed into Castro’s shoulder. Jeffers singled to fill the bases and Lee unloaded them with a three-run triple and it was 9-2.
Lee finished the game with two hits and five RBI and Santana finished with three hits, three runs scored and two RBI.
And the Twins did their nine-run, 12-hit damage without their two best offensive weapons. Byron Buxton and Carlos Correa came off the injured list Friday (Buxton) and Saturday (Correa), but neither played Sunday.
Twins starter David Festa, a 6-foot-6, 180-pound right hander nicknamed ‘The Slim Reaper,’ had lost his previous four starts. But thanks to Cincinnati’s slipshod baserunning, he held the Reds to two runs and three hits over his 3 2/3 innings.
Three Minnesota relief pitchers blanked the Reds on no runs and four hits over the final 5 1/3 innings.
The Reds finished a 10-day, four-city, 10-game trip 5-5. After taking Monday off, the Reds begin a three-game series Tuesday in Great American Ball Park against the Atlanta Braves.
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