Reds' 2nd chance at MLB history didn't last long, but no glove lost
"With how many close games we've played already, sometimes that's the difference. One mistake could cost you a game," Reds LF/1B Spencer Steer said.
MIAMI – The most confounding success story in an early season full of them for the Cincinnati Reds got a short-lived second chance at history this week, thanks to a scoring change by MLB’s official keeper of the stats. That pursuit of league history didn’t last another full inning of baseball. But it doesn’t diminish the larger point about one of the more impressive ways the Reds have played baseball to start this season – baseball so clean in the field that they were the only team in the majors without an error until Brady Singer’s pair of errant pickoff throws in the first two innings of their 12th game of the season.
More: Reds await Jose Trevino MRI result, loss of Christian Encarnacion-Strand “It’s something we pride ourselves on,” second baseman Matt McLain said. “We want to be great on defense. We want to play clean baseball.
” That’s been one of the biggest keys to the Reds’ best 11-game start (8-3) since the 1990 World Series champs opened 9-2. Even with their franchise-record 11-game errorless streak to open a season snapped. Even after Singer took all of four batters into Game 12 to blow their second chance at catching the 2022 San Diego Padres for the MLB record (16).
The second chance came when an obstruction call that went against McLain and was originally scored as an error April 7 was changed the next day to more accurately reflect the rule, which calls for that play to be ruled dead and the runner awarded the base. In this case, that meant Heriberto Hernandez – who was originally called out on a stolen base attempt before a second umpire applied the obstruction call – was awarded a stolen base. And the error was erased.