Behind Bell, De La Cruz, Marlins rally to take Reds series. Takeaways from the win
The Miami Marlins were in a spot they have become accustomed to this season: Trailing late, in need of a spark to finish off a comeback.
Their manager, one of their newest additions to the lineup, and one of the mainstays the past couple years did just that.
Miami rallied for four unanswered runs in the final two innings to defeat the Cincinnati Reds 5-4 on Wednesday at Great American Ball Park and take the three-game series.
Miami (60-56) dropped the first game of the series 5-2 on Monday before rebounding with a 3-2 win on Tuesday against the Reds (60-57). It marks just the second time this season the Marlins have won consecutive games in the second half of the season. The win is the Marlins’ 30th come-from-behind victory of the season and their 26th one-run win.
The Marlins trailed 4-1 going into the eighth inning when Josh Bell hit a game-tying three-run home run — his second homer of the game — and Bryan De La Cruz followed a go-ahead home run to lead off the top of the ninth.
Before the home runs, though, Marlins manager Skip Schumaker was ejected for defending designated hitter Jorge Soler, who himself was ejected for arguing balls and strikes following an eighth inning strikeout.
“Maybe they just wanted me out of the dugout and then they started to go,” Schumaker said with a laugh. “No, it was really cool to see them come together.”
Here are three takeaways from the game.
Ringing the Bell
Bell’s multi-home run game landed him in the Marlins record books for the second time in just eight games with the franchise.
The 30-year-old switch hitter on Wednesday became the first player in club history to hit a home run from both sides of the plate in the same game. Bell homered as a left-handed batter in the fourth inning against Reds starter Graham Ashcraft and then as a right-handed batter in the 8th inning against reliever Sam Moll.
Bell has safely reached base in all eight games he has played since making his Marlins debut on Aug. 2. He’s hitting .323 (10 for 31) with three home runs, three doubles, seven RBI and five runs scored.
He became the first player in Marlins history to be acquired midseason have four hits in his team debut and has reached base multiple times in three of eight games.
Wednesday was his first multi-home run game of the season and the eighth of his MLB career — the first since June 17, 2022, when he was with the Washington Nationals.
Johnny Cueto’s outing
Johnny Cueto has taken the mound here more than any other ballpark in his 16-year MLB career. Wednesday was Cueto’s 102nd career start at Cincinnati’s Great American Ball Park, the place he called home for the first half of his career.
Outside of a rough patch in the fourth inning, the veteran right-handed pitcher held his own.
His final line: Three earned runs allowed on five hits and one walk with five strikeouts
Cueto’s outing started about as good as it could have. He retired 11 of the first 12 batters he faced, allowing just a Joey Votto one-out single in the second inning in that span.
And then came his trouble with two outs in the fourth.
Cueto gave up two home runs in the span of three batters, with Spencer Steer hitting a game-tying solo shot to left on a fastball above the strike zone and Christian Encarnacion-Strand sending a middle-in sinker a projected 390 feet to left for a go-ahead two-run home run. Votto hit an infield single in between the two home runs.
After needing just 35 pitches for three shutout innings, Cueto threw 33 pitches to get through the fourth inning.
Cueto rebounded with a nine-pitch fifth inning to end his outing.
In five appearances (four starts) since returning to the Marlins in the second half, Cueto has a 4.15 ERA (12 earned runs in 26 innings pitched) with 23 strikeouts against six walks. He has pitched at least five innings in all four of his starts.
Cueto was originally signed by the Reds as an international free agent in March 2004 and made his debut with the club on April 3, 2008. In seven-and-a-half seasons with Cincinnati, Cueto went 92-63 with a 3.21 ERA. He was an All-Star for the Reds in 2014, the year he finished as runner-up for the National League Cy Young Award.
He was traded to the Kansas City Royals midway through the 2015 season and helped Kansas City win the World Series that year. Cueto then spent six years with the San Francisco Giants (2016-2021) and one with the Chicago White Sox (2022) before signing with the Marlins over the offseason.
The Reds extended their lead to 4-1 on an Encarnacion-Strand RBI single in the sixth against reliever Jorge Lopez.
A.J. Puk, Tanner Scott and David Robertson took care of things from there, combining for three shutout innings to preserve the win.
Returning home
After winning back-to-back games for just the second time since the All-Star Break, the Marlins now return home for a homestand against two more playoff contenders.
They first host the New York Yankees for a three-game set that starts Friday and then face the Houston Astros from Monday-Wednesday.
This story was originally published August 9, 2023 at 3:47 PM.
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