The Reds lost much more than a game on Thursday afternoon in a 12-inning marathon at Great American Ball Park. They lost their starting pitcher due to knee pain and learned their starting second baseman needs surgery for a torn left thumb ligament. They were also nearly involved in a benches-clearing incident, but cooler heads prevailed before any further losses piled on.
On the field, the Reds’ five-game winning streak was snapped in a 6-4 loss to the Cubs in the finale of a five-game series with Chicago.
With the game tied at 4 in the 12th inning, Arismendy Alcantara and Starlin Castro legged out infield singles and were both driven in by a Luis Valbuena triple off reliever J.J. Hoover to break the stalemate.
The ball Valbuena hit was just off the glove of a leaping Skip Schumaker in right, as Schumaker slammed into the wall trying to make the play.
“I should’ve caught the ball,” Schumaker said, though the play was anything but routine. “I hit the wall pretty good, but I’m more upset I didn’t catch it. … I don’t think it could’ve done much different, other than fall in my glove right when I hit the wall.”
Valbuena didn’t hesitate and thought he had an inside-the-park home run, despite a 9-3-2 relay throw. The Cubs challenged the call, saying catcher Devin Mesoraco had violated Rule 7.13 and blocked the plate illegally.
But after a 2 minute, 45 second review, the call was confirmed and Valbuena was out.
Bailey joined a rapidly-growing list of banged-up Reds in the sixth, when he left the game after stopping mid-delivery as he prepared to throw a pitch to Castro. He sustained a slight strain of his right knee, but with the All-Star break around the corner, shouldn’t miss his next start.
“We can put him on the back end of the rotation coming out of the All-Star break,” Reds manager Bryan Price said. “It sounds like he should be good to go by that time.”
The more worrisome news for Cincinnati is that Brandon Phillips will require surgery for the torn ligament in his left thumb after he hurt it on a diving play in Wednesday’s 4-1 Reds win. He is scheduled to undergo surgery on Friday and miss approximately six weeks.
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