CINCINNATI — The Cincinnati Reds never found a way to slow down A’s outfielder Lawrence Butler, who homered three more times on Thursday and clobbered five in three games at Great American Ballpark. But a Bay Area native capped a ninth-inning rally that allowed the Reds to overcome Butler and avoid being swept by the A’s.
TJ Friedl, who starred at Pleasanton’s Foothill High, capped Cincinnati’s three-run ninth inning with a two-run single in the Reds’ 10-9 comeback win. Oakland won the first two games of the series, and now head to Arlington to face the Texas Rangers for a three-game series that begins Friday.
The A’s saw their four-game winning streak snapped despite leading by five in the fourth inning and taking a 9-7 lead into the bottom of the ninth.
Oakland closer Mason Miller saved each of the first two games in the series, so manager Mark Kotsay sent Grant Holman (0-1) to the mound for the ninth. And the Reds rallied against the rookie right-hander who was seeking his first big league save.
Rece Hinds reached on a leadoff walk and Jonathan India singled. Elly De La Cruz walked ahead of Tyler Stephenson’s RBI single, and Friedl grounded a game-ending single into right field.
The A’s out-hit the Reds 14-8, but Oakland pitchers combined to walk seven batters and hit three more with pitches.
Cincinnati Reds’ TJ Friedl hits a single on a ground ball to right field, driving in Jonathan India and Elly De La Cruz during the ninth inning of a baseball game against the Oakland Athletics, Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Butler hit a two-run drive in the second and a solo shot in the fourth, helping Oakland build a 6-1 lead. He also homered in the first two games of the series. In all, Butler went 7 for 14, drove in eight runs and scored five times over the three games.
Butler is tied with JJ Bleday for third on the team with 19 homers behind Brent Rooker (31) and Shea Langeliers (22).
After homering in the A’s first two wins in the series, Butler hit a two-run homer in the second inning to give the A’s a 4-0 lead. He and Bleday hit back-to-back solo homers in the fourth inning as the A’s expanded their lead to 6-1. Butler hit another solo homer in the ninth. It was his second three-homer game of the season after he also went deep three times in an 18-3 win at Philadelphia on July 14.
Butler opened the ninth with his 19th homer, a drive to right off Alexis Díaz that tied it at 7. Rooker then walked and Bleday doubled ahead of Seth Brown’s tiebreaking two-run single. Bleday had five hits for the A’s, including his 19th homer. Brown finished with two hits and three RBIs.
Stephenson and Will Benson homered for Cincinnati, which had lost five of six. Stephenson finished with three hits and two RBIs.
The struggling Díaz was replaced by onetime A’s reliever Emilio Pagán (4-4), who retired his only three batters.
Cincinnati right-hander Julian Aguiar was tagged for six runs and 10 hits in four innings in his third career start.
Stephenson hit his 18th homer in the fourth, and the Reds added two more runs in the fifth. India walked with the bases loaded, and De La Cruz drove in a run with a groundout.
Cincinnati scored three runs in the sixth without a hit. Joe Boyle hit Friedl with his first pitch, and the reliever walked three straight batters with one out. T. J. McFarland replaced Boyle and hit pinch-hitter Amed Rosario, forcing in a run, before India gave the Reds the lead with a flyball to center.
