Reds end season with 7-4 loss to Cubs

With 162 games in the book and the close of the regular season here, the Cubs are ready to head into the postseason. They gave themselves an added tuneup with a ninth-inning rally on the Reds that provided a 7-4 victory on Sunday at Great American Ball Park.

Chicago was trailing by a 4-3 score and was down to its final strike when Matt Szczur hit a two-run double to right field against Raisel Iglesias. Pinch-hitter Miguel Montero opened up some added space with a two-run home run to right field off of Iglesias.

The Cubs finished 103-58, their most wins since a 104-victory season in 1910 as they finished atop the National League Central standings. Now they await the outcome of the NL Wild Card Game between the Mets and Giants to learn their opponent in the NL Division Series that is scheduled to begin on Friday at Wrigley Field.

“We kept playing the game for nine innings hard today, ended up with the win on the last day of the season,” said Cubs manager Joe Maddon, who recorded his 200th win with the Cubs. “I think that speaks loudly about our entire group. Listen, of course we’re very happy about that — 103’s a nice number. It’s a nice, rounded, odd number, and we’ll take it.”

Cubs starter Kyle Hendricks pitched five innings with four earned runs, six hits, one walk, four strikeouts and hit a batter. Following Tony Renda’s RBI double in the fourth inning, Hendricks and Chicago trailed by a 4-2 score. He tied his season low in innings pitched in a start while also tying a season high in runs allowed.

Robert Stephenson gave the Reds four innings and 88 pitches as he battled throughout his start. Stephenson gave up two earned runs, four hits and five walks with four strikeouts but managed to escape the big inning. He allowed one run on a groundout in the third, and after two walks to open the fourth, he surrendered a Willson Contreras RBI single.

Contreras made it a one-run game against Reds reliever Blake Wood with a one-out solo home run to center field in the eighth inning. Iglesias blew the save in the four-run ninth. Montero’s pinch-hit two-run homer to right field was the 103rd allowed by the Reds’ bullpen, and it extended the pitching staff’s single-season record with the 258th overall.

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