Cincinnati Reds manager Terry Francona usually doesn’t place major importance on winning a game in mid-August.
But with a daunting nine-game trip on tap starting with the opener of a three-game series against the Los Angeles Angels on Monday night in Anaheim, Calif., even Francona acknowledged his team’s 3-2, 10-inning victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Sunday was huge.
“I get it, and you’re right. It is one (win), but it’s gonna make the flight a little shorter. That’s for damn sure,” Francona told the Cincinnati Enquirer. “And it was coming on the heels of a couple of tough nights, so good for us. We’ll take it.”
Cincinnati’s Jose Trevino singled in Will Benson in the ninth inning to forge a 2-2 tie, and Austin Hays lined a bases-loaded single down the third base line in the 10th to drive in TJ Friedl with the game-winning run as the Reds snapped Milwaukee’s 14-game winning streak.
The victory kept the Reds just 1 1/2 games behind the New York Mets in the chase for the final wild-card spot in the National League.
Cincinnati squandered a seven-run lead in losing the opener to Milwaukee 10-8 on Friday, and then fell 6-5 in 11 innings on Saturday.
“Just a big win all-around for us,” Trevino said. “Two heartbreaking losses; we were in those games. … But to get this one, it’s big. It shows a lot about us as a team.”
“The whole series, I don’t know if I have years left, but whatever I have, it took some off,” said Francona, 66. “It wasn’t perfect, but we kept playing and we beat a really good team.”
The Reds will play three games against the Angels before flying to Phoenix for a three-game set against the Arizona Diamondbacks. The trip will end back in Southern California with three games against the defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers.
Right-hander Brady Singer (10-9, 4.31 ERA), who is 0-2 with a 2.61 ERA in two career starts against the Angels, will make his first career start at Angel Stadium in the opener. He will oppose rookie right-hander Victor Mederos (0-0, 5.63).
It will be just the second career start for Mederos. His first came Tuesday against the Dodgers when he went four innings and allowed three runs on three hits, including a two-run homer to Dalton Rushing, in a game the Angels won 7-6 in 10 innings.
The Angels are seven games behind the New York Yankees for the final American League wild-card berth.
Los Angeles will play a six-game homestand against the Reds and Chicago Cubs after dropping two of three games against the last-place Athletics in West Sacramento, Calif.
The Angels failed to build on their three-game sweep of the Dodgers, getting outscored 17-5 in losing the first two games vs. the Athletics. But Los Angeles bounced back to win the finale 11-5 thanks to a six-run 10th inning that featured a go-ahead single by Jo Adell, a two-run triple by Luis Rengifo, and a 436-foot home run by shortstop Zach Neto.
Adell finished 3-for-5 with a home run, double, three runs and tied his career high with four RBIs.
“You just have to flush the previous games and move forward,” Adell said. “To get to go back home with a win and just kind of bring that into (the series against) Cincinnati and see what we can do. I think we did a really good job of turning the page today and just going back out there.”