The Reds (10-15) completed a stretch of 20 games in 20 days with their most exciting finish of the season. They’ll need the optimism that goes with it as they start a six-game road trip on the West Coast on Friday against the Oakland Athletics.
Manager David Bell told reporters Wednesday the latest victory “doesn’t say anything I don’t know about our team or anything like that. It’s just a lot of fun playing these kind of games. The guys are playing together. There’s really one focus, and that’s going out and winning the baseball game. It’s so pure and so much fun. You play better that way. We’ve been playing that way all year, but it really came together for these three days against a really good team.”
The Reds got an off day Thursday for the first time since April 6 when the first game of a three-game series on the road against the Philadelphia Phillies was postponed by rain. They were 7-13 in the 20-game stretch.
The Reds will try to build momentum against the team with the worst record in baseball on Friday. The A’s (5-20) have not won two games in a row all season. The Reds have not played at Oakland Coliseum since 2019. They are 5-9 in regular-season games in the stadium.
After Oakland, the Reds play three games against the San Diego Padres (13-13) before returning to Great American Ball Park on May 5 for another interleague series against the Chicago White Sox. The Reds have lost eight straight games at San Diego’s Petco Park and have lost 12 of 13 games against the Padres in the last two seasons.
The Rangers (14-10) had won six of their last seven games before traveling to Cincinnati. The Reds handed them their first three-game losing streak and first sweep of the season.
The home run by Senzel was the Reds’ first in nine days. They had not hit a home run in 355 straight plate appearances, dating back to a home run by Kevin Newman to lead off the second inning in an 8-1 victory against the Tampa Bay Rays on April 17.
Senzel said he was talking with Bell after the game about how the Reds were making it hard on themselves by scratching out runs without home runs.
“It’s nice to hit one out every now and again,” Senzel said.
It was the first career walk-off home run for Senzel, who raised his season average from .139 to .227 by going 5-for-8 in the last two games of the series. It was his first home run since returning from the injured list and making his season debut April 13.
The Reds also won the first game of the series in walk-off fashion and ended a six-game losing streak in the process. They rallied from a 5-1 deficit to win 7-6 on Monday with Jonathan India scoring on TJ Friedl’s single in the ninth. They won by the same score Tuesday with a six-run rally in the eighth.
The Reds improved to 3-7 in one-run games. They have six comeback victories.
“I think it’s in our DNA,” Senzel said. “It’s in everyone’s character. We’re not going to stop fighting, especially if we’re down. Some things haven’t gone our way. We’ve been in some tough, close ballgames. To be able to bounce back here and come back in the first two and then again same thing today, it’s not always how you want to draw it up. I’d like to win some early early on, but you win them how you win them.”
FRIDAY’S GAME
Reds at A’s, 9:40 p.m., Bally Sports Ohio, 700, 1410
About the Author
