Instant Reaction: Bullpen and Defense Collapse Late, Reds Fall to Cubs 13-6

The Cincinnati Reds (25-27) fell to the Chicago Cubs (31-20) 13-6 on Friday night at Great American Ball Park.

Here are our postgame takeaways:

Greene Returns

Hunter Greene returned to the mound on Friday. The flamethrower gave up a two-run home run by Pete Crow-Armstrong in the fourth inning. However, the Cubs forced him to throw a ton of pitched in the inning and he would exit after the fourth.

He allowed two runs on three hits, walked two, and struck out two.

Offense Scores Early and Often

The first six batters of the game reached base for the Reds and they got off to a 3-0 lead in the first inning. After they led 3-0, they had the bases loaded with nobody out and failed to score again.

In the fifth inning, Tyler Stephenson ripped an RBI double and TJ Friedl added an RBI single to put the Reds ahead 6-2.

Bullpen and Defense Implode

Ian Gibaut came on in the seventh inning. With a man on first, Gibaut forced a groundball to Matt McLain, who tried to tag the runner on his way to second, but missed. The next batter hit a bloop between Santiago Espinal and Austin Hays.

With the bases loaded, Tony Santillan came in to replace Gibaut.

Kyle Tucker ripped a bases-loaded single to get the Cubs within two. Pete Crow-Armstrong followed with his second home run of the game, a grand slam that gave the Cubs an 8-6 lead.

Seiya Suzuki hit a three-run home run in the eighth inning to break the game wide open. Dansby Swanson added a two-run home run in the ninth inning.

News and Notes

• Spencer Steer has three hits and raised his batting average to .225 on the season.
• Scott Barlow leads Major League Baseball in appearances since 2019.
• It was just the Reds' fourth loss of the season when leading after six innings. They are now 24-4.
• The Reds are 6-16 when they do not hit a home run.
• The Reds are 17-5 when scoring five runs or more this season.

Up Next

The Reds and Cubs will play game two of the series at 4:10 ET on Saturday at Great American Ball Park. Andrew Abbott will start for Cincinnati.