Cincinnati Reds Pitch Their Way to a Sweep of Tampa Bay Rays

The Cincinnati Reds (56-50) completed the sweep of the Tampa Bay Rays (53-53) with a 2-1 win on Sunday. This win was all about the pitching for the Reds.

BRADY SINGER SHOVES

Brady Singer (8-8, 4.60 ERA) was ridiculously efficient on the afternoon. He pitched 7 1/3 innings and needed just 97 pitches to get there. His one and only run allowed was a solo home run off the bat of Taylor Walls. That was the final batter he faced.

In his last start, Singer got rocked by the Washington Nationals and din’t even get our of the third inning. This is a very encouraging development as he looked a lot more like the April version of himself.

PUT THE BALL IN PLAY

When you don’t strike out, good things happen. Neither ball left the infield on both scoring plays for the Reds. Runs scored, nonetheless.

Austin Hays got the Reds scoring started with a crazy bouncing ball that confounded Rays shortstop Taylor Walls. TJ Friedl kept his head down and never stopped running to score from second base.

Then Gavin Lux added the second run on a soft ground ball fielded by Rays first baseman Jonathan Aranda. As Matt McLain had stolen his way to third in the previous pitch, Aranda had no prayer of getting the Reds second baseman at the plate and settled to get Lux at first.

TIRED BULLPEN

Emilio Pagan got the high-pressure save as he pitched for the third-straight day. He struck out Yandy Diaz and got a couple of fly outs to close out the one-run sweep of a win. This is the third time in 2025 that Pagan has pitched in three consecutive games.

Tony Santillan bailed out the Reds in the eighth after Singer allowed the homer to Walls. This is the fourth time this year that Santillan has pitched three consecutive games, and the second set this month.

DIFFICULT OUTS

While the Reds did not fill up the scoreboard, or even the box score on Shane Baz (8-7, 4.61), they made him work. He threw 100 pitches to get through five innings. Reds hitters were putting together the kind of at-bats that you would be proud to see in October.

The Reds now welcome the Los Angeles Dodgers to town on Monday. Nick Lodolo will start for the Reds while the Dodgers have not yet named a starter. First pitch will be at at 7:10 PM.