The Cincinnati Reds still believe in their postseason hopes.
After opening a three-game series against the Toronto Blue Jays with a wild 5-4 walk-off win on Monday, the Reds will look to keep pace in the National League wild-card race when the teams meet again on Tuesday in Cincinnati.
Through the games of Aug. 24, the Reds were 1 1/2 games behind the New York Mets for the final wild-card berth. A five-game skid later, Cincinnati’s deficit grew to five games. Now the Reds (70-68) have won two in a row and are within four games of a playoff spot.
“You want the other teams to know that we’re still here. Obviously, we’re not going to quit,” Cincinnati closer Emilio Pagan said Sunday. “It’s been the M.O. of this team all year. We don’t quit, we keep fighting. I think we’ve been kind of written off by some people a couple of times and find our way back into it. That alone should help us for right now.”
The Reds nearly found themselves with their sixth loss in the past seven games after the Blue Jays turned a 2-1 deficit into a 4-2 lead in the top of the ninth against Pagan. But Toronto’s bullpen couldn’t hang on, and Cincinnati rallied for three runs in the bottom of the ninth, capped by TJ Friedl’s RBI double and Noelvi Marte’s two-run single.
Cincinnati’s Ke’Bryan Hayes singled and scored in the ninth. The third baseman has found a rejuvenated bat since joining the team from the Pittsburgh Pirates on July 30. Hayes was hitting .236 and had a career-low .569 on-base-plus-slugging percentage through 100 games at the time of the trade.
With the Reds, Hayes has a .274 average and .796 OPS in 29 games. Three of his five home runs on the season have come with his new squad, and he is 7-for-15 through the first four games of the current homestand.
Cincinnati left-hander Nick Lodolo (8-7, 3.22 ERA) will take the mound on Tuesday for his first career appearance against Toronto.
Meanwhile, the Blue Jays (79-59) will be looking to bounce back and not let their lead atop the American League East diminish any further. They have lost five of their past eight games, and the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox have closed the gap, each now within 2 1/2 games.
“We’ve been through so many of these,” Toronto manager John Schneider said. “I’ve said it before: This group is so good at moving on to the next thing, whether it’s inning by inning — which we saw in the ninth inning — or day by day, you come ready to play tomorrow.”
Blue Jays right-hander Jose Berrios (9-5, 3.95 ERA) will get the start on Tuesday. He is 1-2 with a 4.35 ERA in four career starts against Cincinnati.
Toronto will be hoping he can go deep and give the beleaguered bullpen a breather.
“It’s just getting these guys rest, and I just put it all on our starters,” said Blue Jays right-hander Chris Bassitt, who tossed the first six innings on Monday. “Our starters are that good where we can go deep into games. … It’s trying to get over six (innings). We have off days, so we can go over 100 pitches. We’ve got to figure out a way to go deep.”