The Indians were able to overcome an early deficit with an overwhelming offensive outpouring on Monday night at Progressive Field, topping the Reds 15-6 in the series opener in the annual Ohio Cup. Cleveland’s comeback erased some offensive fireworks from Cincinnati’s offense.
Cincinnati jumped out to a 4-0 advantage by the third inning, with three of those runs coming by virtue of the long ball. Outfielder Adam Duvall, who came into the series hitting .395 with four home runs and nine RBIs in his last 11 games, blasted a solo shot in the second. Eugenio Suarez then launched a two-run homer in the third.
After recording just one hit through the first two innings against Reds lefty John Lamb, the Tribe then struck for seven runs on nine hits across the third and fourth frames. Francisco Lindor (two-run double in the third), Jason Kipnis (two-run single in the fourth) and Mike Napoli (an RBI single in each inning) powered Cleveland’s offense during that outburst. Yan Gomes and Marlon Byrd later added a home run apiece in a five-run sixth for the Indians.
“That was good for a number of reasons,” Indians manager Terry Francona said of the lopsided win. “A lot of guys relaxed a bit. It was real good. We could always use those kind of games.”
Lamb exited after just four innings, in which he gave up seven runs on 10 hits, seven of which were singles. He walked a pair and struck out one en route to his first loss of the season. The Reds’ pitching staff as a whole allowed a season-high 19 hits.
“Tough night for everybody. Nothing came easy tonight,” Reds manager Bryan Price said. “You know what? They got really comfortable. There were 25 baserunners. We were averaging three runners an inning. You go from a 4-0 game to 15-6. There were a lot of things that didn’t work terribly well today. More than anything, their hitters were comfortable.”
However, Tribe starter Cody Anderson didn’t fare much better, as the sophomore righty allowed two dingers by the Reds. Anderson was charged with six runs on nine hits in 4 1/3 innings, representing the fourth time in six starts this year that he has given up at least five runs.
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