Winning teams, losing teams, it didn’t matter to the Cincinnati Reds, who were winning games at an historic pace before Sunday’s 6-2 loss to Pittsburgh.
The Reds won 22 of 25 games going into their series finale Sunday against the Pirates at Great American Ball Park. That was a red-hot stretch not enjoyed by the franchise since 1890, according to Elias Sports Bureau, and it left at least manager Dusty Baker a little dissatisfied with taking just two out of three from the Pirates.
“You get greedy,” Baker said. “When you start winning every day, two out of three isn’t good enough. We went 5-2 on the homestand, but you always want more.”
Picking which streak was more impressive proved difficult. Was it 22 out of 25, or the 15 of 16 the Reds had won before Sunday? Maybe it was 16-4 without All-Star first baseman Joe Votto, still out with a torn meniscus in his left knee. How about the 10 straight that cost Hall of Fame Reds broadcaster Marty Brennaman his hair in a much-ballyhooed head-shaving following Cincinnati’s win over the Pirates on Friday night. He’d promised to have his head shaved if the Reds put together a double-figure win streak, and he turned the event into a fund-raiser that generated $100,000 for the Reds Community Fund and other charities.
Two sellout crowds, a third near-sellout, a matchup of the top two teams in the National League Central, a near-scalping — it all added up to a festive, boisterous weekend at Great American Ball Park that ended Sunday with a sort of thud and sent the Reds on the road to Milwaukee.
“It felt like a playoff atmosphere,” rookie infielder Todd Frazier said. “We’ve got to keep coming up clutch. We won’t win all of them, but we’ll give our best effort. We can’t take anybody lightly, especially Milwaukee, with their hitting and pitching. Everybody in our division is pretty good. We’ve got to keep doing what we do.”