Reds rake in Philly, take series from Phillies
PHILADELPHIA − The month of May doesn't seem so bad for the Cincinnati Reds for the moment. Playing at Citizens Bank Park, a venue that has traditionally been inhospitable to the Reds, and against a Philadelphia Phillies team that was arguably the hottest club in baseball entering the series, Cincinnati stabilized a rocky month with a series win. The Reds smacked Phillies pitching around in the May 20 series finale, collecting 15 hits and winning 9-4.
Cincinnati starting pitcher Andrew Abbott didn't allow a hit until the fourth inning, and exited after 5 ⅓ innings with a 5-2 lead. The Phillies cut the lead down to a lone run later that inning against reliever Brock Burke, but Cincinnati's bats kept hacking away and providing insurance. Two runs in the seventh for a 7-4 lead gave the Reds some breathing room, and a Sal Stewart two-run home run in the ninth inning made it 9-4.
Stewart went 4-for-5 with three runs scored. Five other Reds had multi-hit games, including Nathaniel Lowe (2-for-5, three RBIs). Lowe's deep drive off the wall in center field restored a multi-run advantage for the Reds in the seventh inning after Philadelphia homered its way back to within a run.
It was just the second series victory of May for the Reds, but the timing was welcome. After starting the season 9-19, resulting in the firing of now-former manager Rob Thomson, the Phillies had surged in May, making them formidable on paper. In the end, the Reds were four outs shy of sweeping the Phillies.
An eighth inning home run in the May 18 series opener was Philadelphia's lone victory in the set. No Schwarber for Phillies? No problem for Reds You might have noticed that Kyle Schwarber, the Middletown native the Reds pursued this offseason and tried to bring home, was largely absent from the conversation of the Reds-Phillies series.