The Reds now know for sure they are going to the postseason, but they have a couple of mysteries to solve before they make some final decisions. Perhaps Johnny Cueto cleared one of them up on Monday night.
Cueto made a big stride in showing that he could be the pitcher that starts the club off in October, no matter where or how it begins in the playoffs.
While Cueto did not figure in the decision, a 3-2 Reds win over the Mets came on Shin-Soo Choo’s walk-off single in the 10th inning. Moments later, the Pirates won their game vs. the Cubs and the Cardinals eliminated the Nationals from postseason contention with a victory.
That meant the Reds and Pirates, both 90-67 and in second place in the National League Central, are joining the first-place Cardinals in the playoffs. St. Louis maintained its two-game division lead.
“I was pulling for the Nationals to win so we could get one step closer to the Cardinals,” Reds manager Dusty Baker said. “We wanted the Pirates to lose, but we’re tied with them. We wanted the Cardinals to lose. We’ve still got five big games to go.”
Hot when they need to be the most in the final week of the season, the Reds have won six of their last seven games. Cueto, who has been part of two of those victories in his first two games back from the disabled list, gave his team seven strong innings, allowing two runs — one earned — on three hits, with three walks and five strikeouts while throwing 99 pitches.
“I felt normal,” Cueto said via translator Tomas Vera. “Actually I talked to Dusty after that last inning and I told him, ‘I want to go, I want to go out one more inning. I can pitch the eighth inning.’ But because I had close to 100 pitches, he said, ‘No, no. That’s it. That’s enough for you.'”
The Reds are still trying to figure out a postseason rotation and where exactly Cueto might fit. Last Monday in his first start since June 28 — when a strained right lat muscle put him on the disabled list for the third time — Cueto dealt a young Astros lineup five scoreless innings on 82 pitches for a win.
Baker was clearly impressed with what he’s seen from Cueto thus far. When asked about Cueto’s potential placement on the postseason roster, Baker coyly smiled and paused.
“We’ll see,” Baker said.
New York’s lineup presented a higher degree of difficulty for Cueto. Of his three hits allowed, one was on a bunt. None of the walks he issued came back to haunt him. Cueto felt he could start either the Wild Card game or Game 1 of the Division Series.
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