*Photo from AOL*
Down to their last out? No problem. Will Benson tied the game, Christian Encarnacion-Strand won the game, and the Cincinnati Reds defeated the Washington Nationals with a 6-5 victory on Sunday afternoon in Cincinnati.
On the brink of losing the first series of the season, the Reds turned it around in the blink of an eye, hitting back to back home runs with two outs in the 9th inning to stun the Nationals and win the series. Benson and Encarnacion-Strand came up with the big hits, with Benson driving in 3 runs on the game.
Cincinnati manager David Bell said of the win that "It’s amazing how much better it feels to win the game. It all matters and it can carry over. It’s just the best playing games like that."
After the first two innings went scoreless, CJ Abrams gave the Nationals a 1-0 lead in the top of the 3rd with a solo home run. In the bottom of the 3rd, Jonathan India tied the game 1-1 on an RBI groundout and Benson hit an RBI double to put the Reds up 2-1. Spencer Steer made it 3-1 in the 4th with an RBI single before Lane Thomas tied it for the Nationals with a two run single in the 5th.
Trey Lipscomb put the Nationals ahead in the 7th with a solo home run, the first of his big league career. Eddie Rosario scored in the 8th on a sac fly from Thomas to make it a 5-3 Nationals lead. Down to their last out in the 9th, Benson tied the game with a two run home run before Encarnacion-Strand won it the next at-bat.
Benson said after the game that "I had an opportunity to watch India put together a great at-bat and just get my timing down. I’m grateful. I was just sitting there thinking in my mind, ‘India, win so I can get one more.’ Obviously it worked out. He had a great at-bat, it was amazing."
Nick Martinez made his Reds debut in his start, allowing 3 runs on 6 hits in 5 innings. Emilio Pagan pitched a scoreless 6th before Buck Farmer allowed a run in the 7th. Tejay Antone allowed a run before Fernando Cruz pitched a scoreless inning. Lucas Sims worked a shutout 9th to get the win.
Jake Irvin was the starter for the Nationals, allowing 3 runs in 5 innings of his own. Robert Garcia, Dylan Floro, and Hunter Harvey all threw shutout innings of work until Kyle Finnegan gave up the two home runs in the 9th, blowing the save opportunity and getting tagged with the loss.
Washington manager Dave Martinez said of the loss that "We played the game well, we played hard, we fell behind, we came back. Unfortunately, we couldn’t finish it up. We’ve just got to try to focus on trying to go 1-0 tomorrow. That’s all you can do. You do everything right for nine innings, you get two outs and things just don’t go your way."
Both teams start their second series of the season on Monday. Andrew Abbott is projected to start for the Reds as they head to Philadelphia for a matchup with the Phillies. The Nationals have their home opener against the Pittsburgh Pirates on tap, with MacKenzie Gore the starting pitcher.
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