Comics » The last-place Cincinnati Reds slammed the Chicago Cubs

Anthony DeSclafani hit the first grand slam by a Cincinnati pitcher in 59 years Julian Love Jersey , helping the Reds beat the Chicago Cubs 11-2 on Saturday for their sixth consecutive victory.

It was Cincinnati’s third slam in five days and major league-leading seventh of the season, two short of the record set in 2002. Jesse Winker hit one in the series opener against Chicago on Thursday night.

The last Reds pitcher to hit a grand slam was Bob Purkey against the Cubs on Aug. 1, 1959.

Tucker Barnhart and Joey Votto also went deep in front of a crowd of 36,818, Cincinnati’s largest since opening day. Votto hit a three-run shot off backup catcher Chris Gimenez in the eighth.

”We’re playing clean baseball,” interim manager Jim Riggleman said. ”We’ve strung some good ballgames together.”

The Reds matched their longest win streak of the season and won a third straight game against the Cubs for the first time since winning five in a row in 2014.

”They definitely have played much better,” Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. ”They deserved all three. Our pitching was in disarray, and they took advantage of it.”

Willson Contreras and Ben Zobrist homered for Chicago, which has lost three straight games for the first time since a five-game slide from May 1 through May 6. Zobrist and Ian Happ each had two of the Cubs’ six hits.

Contreras’ fifth homer trimmed Cincinnati’s lead to 2-1 in the second, but the Reds responded with six in the third.

Votto sparked the rally with a two-out walk against Luke Farrell (2-3). Brian Duensing then came in and yielded run-scoring hits to Scooter Gennett and Eugenio Suarez with his first two pitches.

A walk to Winker and Adam Duvall’s infield single loaded the bases for DeSclafani, who drove a 3-2 pitch from Duensing into the seats in left for his first career homer.

”I got to a full count there,” DeSclafani said. ”I knew a fastball was coming, so I just tried to square it up and it happened to go out. At first, I didn’t think it was a home run. but I saw the left fielder kind of give up on it. Then I saw the ball get into the stands. It was awesome. Everything in that at-bat happened so quick Darius Slayton Jersey , from when I swung and hit the ball until I started shaking hands in the dugout.”

DeSclafani (3-1) also pitched a season-high 6 1/3 innings in his fourth start after beginning the year on the disabled list with a left oblique strain. He allowed three hits, struck out three and walked four.

Farrell, a former Red and the son of ex-Red Sox manager and current Reds scout John Farrell, yielded Barnhart’s two-run homer in the first. He was charged with three runs and two hits in his second career start.

”I made one big mistake to Barnhart,” Farrell said. ”They’re an aggressive team. I got too aggressive with a fastball.”

GOOD SAMARITAN

Cubs left fielder Kyle Schwarber, who grew up in nearby Middletown, took an autographed bat to a fan who was injured by one of his foul balls. The fan walked out with help wearing a white bandage around his head.

RED HOT

Cincinnati third baseman Eugenio Suarez had three hits, extending his career-high hitting streak to 13 games. It’s the longest streak by a Red this season.

FOUR FOR FOUR

DeSclafani is the fourth Reds pitcher to hit a grand slam, joining Purkey, Al Hollingsworth in 1936, also against the Cubs, and Icebox Chamberlain with an inside-the-park homer in 1892.

ABOVE, BEYOND

Cubs third baseman Tommy La Stella crashed into the first row of seats down the left-field line while catching Votto’s first-inning popup.

TRAPPED

Contreras’s homer survived a crew-chief replay review after video showed a fan wearing a Cubs jersey trapped it with his glove against the top of the fence before hauling it in.

FRUSTRATED

Chicago bench coach Brandon Hyde was ejected by plate umpire Greg Gibson in the top of the fourth inning for complaining about ball-strike calls.

WHITE FLAG

Gimenez made his 10th career pitching appearance and first for the Cubs.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Cubs: LHP Rob Zastryzny left in the sixth with what Maddon called left side tightness.

Reds: INF Nick Senzel, Cincinnati’s top pick and the second overall selection in the 2016 draft T.J. Hockenson Jersey , is scheduled to undergo season-ending surgery to repair a torn tendon in his right index finger. He suffered the injury on Friday with Triple-A Louisville.

UP NEXT

Cubs: If Tyler Chatwood’s wife doesn’t go into labor, the right-hander will start Sunday’s series finale.

Reds: RHP Sal Romano (4-7) gave up six hits and seven runs in a 10-0 loss to Chicago on May 19.

The lilt in Case Keenum’s voice was missing as he spoke about the end of the Minnesota Vikings’ season in a softer-than-usual tone.

His eyes misted over, Keenum carefully maintained enough composure to keep his voice from cracking. There was no hiding the hurt from the shellacking in Philadelphia, though, that left the Vikings again one victory short of reaching the Super Bowl.

”You go to bed and don’t sleep, and you wake up early and don’t go back to sleep,” Keenum said on Monday in a largely empty locker room at team headquarters on the heels of the shocking 38-7 defeat by the Eagles . ”That’s the what-if, could-have, should-have, would-have, but I did everything I could during the week. I prepared the best I’d been prepared. I just didn’t make the plays, and the ball didn’t bounce our way.”

Keenum committed three turnovers on Sunday night, after only nine giveaways in his previous 16 games. The Eagles turned those into 14 points on top of what the Vikings could have scored on the possession that ended with a sack-fumble deep in Eagles territory. The game was still within reach then, in the second quarter http://www.lionscheapstore.com/jahlani-tavai-jersey-cheap , but after halftime it was well out of hand.

”We believed that we were going to win that game, just like we believed every week prior to that that we could win the game that week,” running back Latavius Murray said. ”We were capable of it. We believed in everybody in the locker room, and we had the guys to do it. We just didn’t play well, and they played really well.”

The defense that was the stingiest in the NFL this season was scorched by backup quarterback Nick Foles and a bunch of receivers who appeared to do whatever they wanted to up and down the field.

”I could’ve called a lot better game, obviously,” coach Mike Zimmer said. ”Point the finger at me before you point it at the players.”

Becoming the first team in history to play in a Super Bowl on home turf was the dream scenario that didn’t materialize, but the Vikings were primarily stunned by how poorly they played on the next-biggest stage and disheartened by how, after 4+ months of such strong performances, they were ultimately left without the chance to play for a championship like the 29 other teams eliminated before them.

Instead, after a sixth NFC championship game loss by the Vikings since their last Super Bowl appearance 41 years ago, the Eagles will take on the New England Patriots at U.S. Bank Stadium on Feb. 4.

”I’ve never had so much fun coming to work in my life, never had so much fun playing football in my life, as this year. That’s not cliche. That’s the honest truth Will Harris Jersey ,” wide receiver Adam Thielen said. ”So I think that makes it a little tougher, too, because you really don’t know what’s going to happen year to year, as far as a group changing and things like that, and that’s why you have to take advantage of those opportunities because you never know when you’ll be back.”

The offseason uncertainty starts at quarterback, where Keenum is the consensus favorite to return after a breakout performance that altered his career narrative following five years as a backup. His contract is scheduled to expire along with Sam Bradford’s and Teddy Bridgewater’s, though, leaving no guarantee for any of them.

”I have an inkling that all those guys are going to be starting quarterbacks in this league for someone, and they’re going to win a lot of games,” Thielen said, ”because they’re that type of character guys, they’re that type of football players, they’re guys you want on your team, and they’re guys you want to play for.”

Bridgewater was inactive for the two playoff games http://www.lionscheapstore.com/austin-bryant-jersey-cheap , with Bradford the backup, a development that didn’t bode well for his future in Minnesota. Asked whether he sees himself as a starter in the league somewhere in 2018, Bridgewater replied, ”Definitely, yeah. Without a question.”

Bradford was not in the locker room when it was open to reporters. Keenum, though unwilling yet to speculate about his pending free agency, made clear he would prefer to remain with the Vikings if it’s up to him.

”Just the attitude and the character and the culture they have around here is awesome,” Keenum said, ”and not to mention Minnesota itself. The people here have been great. My biggest fear coming here was the snow, and I didn’t even shovel that. So it’s been a great year.”

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