Reds' 2nd chance at MLB history didn't last long, but no glove lost
· Yahoo Sports
MIAMI – The most confounding success story in an early season full of them for the Cincinnati Reds got a short-lived second chance at history this week, thanks to a scoring change by MLB’s official keeper of the stats.
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That pursuit of league history didn’t last another full inning of baseball.
But it doesn’t diminish the larger point about one of the more impressive ways the Reds have played baseball to start this season – baseball so clean in the field that they were the only team in the majors without an error until Brady Singer’s pair of errant pickoff throws in the first two innings of their 12th game of the season.
“It’s something we pride ourselves on,” second baseman Matt McLain said. “We want to be great on defense. We want to play clean baseball.”
That’s been one of the biggest keys to the Reds’ best 11-game start (8-3) since the 1990 World Series champs opened 9-2.
Even with their franchise-record 11-game errorless streak to open a season snapped.
Even after Singer took all of four batters into Game 12 to blow their second chance at catching the 2022 San Diego Padres for the MLB record (16).
The second chance came when an obstruction call that went against McLain and was originally scored as an error April 7 was changed the next day to more accurately reflect the rule, which calls for that play to be ruled dead and the runner awarded the base.
In this case, that meant Heriberto Hernandez – who was originally called out on a stolen base attempt before a second umpire applied the obstruction call – was awarded a stolen base. And the error was erased.
“Does he get a stolen base for that? And they called him out?” McLain said. “That’s good, I guess.”
For a while anyway. At least when it came to their pursuit of the record books.
Their streak of remarkably clean baseball during this hot start was intact either way.
“It’s a huge part of the game,” said outfielder-infielder Spencer Steer, a Gold Glove finalist at first base last year. “Just with how many close games we’ve played already, sometimes that’s the difference. One mistake could cost you a game.”
The Reds were the lowest-scoring team in the majors through 11 games but were tied for the third-best record. Exceptional pitching backed by focused play in the field has been the obvious difference.
The fielding has been an emphasis since manager Terry Francona took over last year and stepped up this spring.
“We want to be thinking ahead about ‘if this ball’s hit here where do we go’ so we can slow down and make the play,” said McLain who credited Gold Glove third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes with helping him and others since being acquired at the trade deadline last year.
The infielders compete daily during pregame infield drills to practice mistake-free, and anyone who doesn’t do that gets an earful from the others – especially McLain and middle-infield pal Elly De La Cruz.
“Stuff like that,” McLain said, “taking it seriously pregame, so in the game you can go out there and play.”
It’s a far cry from what this team looked like defensively in 2023 and 2024. It’s also too early in the season to draw any conclusions about how this will play out long-term.
But Steer just keeps thinking about the Milwaukee Brewers as the Reds keep winning in early April.
“They had the best record in the big leagues last year, and every time we play them it seems like you have to beat them because they’re not going to beat themselves,” he said of MLB’s top-fielding team. “That’s what we’ve done a really good job of up to this point.
“That started in spring training with how we went about out business on the defensive side of the ball,” he said. “It’s a big emphasis with Tito, playing clean baseball and taking care of the baseball. It’s been a good start for sure.”
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Reds' 2nd chance at MLB history didn't last long, but no glove lost