The Cincinnati Reds entered Monday night’s game against the New York Mets with the second worst run differential in all of Major League Baseball, second only to the woeful Colorado Rockies. Thanks to Eugenio Suárez, they improved that number by a boatload.
Suárez socked a 2-run homer in the Bottom of the 1st inning to give Chase Burns an early 3-0 lead, and expanded upon that later with a grand slam the broke the game wide open. Burns poured in what he typically does when he’s on the mound for the Reds
– a scoreless 5.0 IP with 7 K – and JJ Bleday later added a 3-run tater of his own, the combined efforts of which resulted in a massive 12-0 win for the Redlegs on the day.
It was precisely the kind of victory Cincinnati needed to help flush the recent memories of their five consecutive lost series down the loo, in theory. Their offense has been so lackluster that it’s put undo pressure on the inexperienced bullpen with just about every pitch they’ve thrown for weeks, and the end result has been a litany of games that the Reds once led slightly that fell by the wayside late. This time, though, Cincinnati’s offense burst things open and refused to slow down, cinching things before it ever had a chance to get close.
In Suárez, Cincinnati has perhaps the single biggest wild card in the National League. He’s a guy who has twice socked 49 homers in a single season, though this year saw an oblique injury sideline him for longer than he’s ever been out before. Since he returned, he’s not quite been right, but if he once again gets hot as the summer months roll around, the Reds might still have the vaunted slugger in the heart of their order that they hoped they’d get when they signed him to a 1-year, $15 million deal this winter.
That would certainly be something for this offense, who has desperately needed his presence all year and simply hasn’t had it in the form we’d all hoped…yet. If he’s back – and if Elly De La Cruz is back by the end of the week – this Cincinnati Reds club might still have enough legs to be relevant for when Hunter Greene returns healthy to co-ace with Burns.
It’s a lot to ask for, sure, but it sure is easy to dream on the possibilities of that roster after a night like this.
