Emilio Pagan took the mound in the 9th inning for the Cincinnati Reds on Monday, and he did so in a save situation for the first time in some two weeks. The Reds had scratched and clawed their way back to a 4-3 lead after earlier watching a 3-0 lead evaporate, yet the powers that be in Wrigley Field simply weren’t having any of it on the night.
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Pete Crow-Armstrong sent a laser to the wall in center field that Dane Myers badly misplayed in the ivy, and the end result was a leadoff ‘triple’ that later scored on a sacrifice fly. That had the bleachers in the venerable stadium rocking, rocking that only got mightier when Pagan later served up a meatball to Michael Conforto that the veteran lefty bat mashed into the stands in left-center for a homer that won the game for the Chicago Cubs and sent the fans who had waited out the rain delay into a frenzy.
It was an obviously frustrating end to an evening that had, at times, shown ample promise. Chase Petty was recalled to start for the first time in 2026 after being bashed all over the place in his trio of appearances last year as a 22 year old, and despite Seiya Suzuki blasting a 3-run homer off of him Petty looked otherwise very, very much ready for the show.
The Reds also got offense from Ke’Bryan Hayes, who walked before later swatting a 2-run dinger. JJ Bleday also kept his hot start going with a homer of his own, and Elly De La Cruz was on-base four times on the night. Positives abounded before, y’know, the 9th inning meltdown, but that’s somewhat the issue for the Reds at this juncture of the season – they’ve built a team that, for whatever reason, ends up in tight ballgames almost every single night.
On Monday, it backfired in the most spectacular way, and the end result is their second consecutive defeat in a 1-run game and their fourth straight loss on this road trip through NL Central foes.
This one burned. It will burn tomorrow. It will likely burn in August, still.
Cubs 5, Reds 4.
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