CINCINNATI (AP) — Reds reliever Lucas Sims walked in a run to give the Arizona Diamondbacks a 5-4 lead over Cincinnati in the top of the eighth inning Tuesday night before the game was suspended because of rain.
Play was called just before the rain turned into snow at Great American Ball Park. It will resume before the teams play their regularly scheduled game on Wednesday night. Both will be nine-inning regulation games.
Pitching in a driving rain with one out in the eighth, Sims hit pinch-hitter Wyatt Mathisen with a pitch to load the bases and then walked Carson Kelly on a full count. Umpire Jerry Meals, the crew chief, then stopped the game.
Andrew Young, who entered as a defensive replacement in the seventh, led off the eighth with a homer to center field against Reds reliever Tejay Antone to tie it.
“I was proud of the guys tonight,” Arizona manager Torey Lovullo said. “These conditions were awful, and we managed to fight when we needed to fight the most.”
Kyle Farmer hit a two-run homer in the Cincinnati sixth off reliever Yoan López, who was called on after starter Zac Gallen walked Tucker Barnhart with two outs.
Gallen pitched well, allowing three earned runs on four hits with six strikeouts through 5 2/3 innings.
Arizona scored three times in the first on three singles and an errant throw to second on a double-play ball by Reds second baseman Jonathan India.
“Offensively, I think we did so many things right that produced some traffic,” Lovullo said.
It could have been worse for Cincinnati, with starter Luis Castillo working out of bases-loaded jams in the third and fourth before being relieved by José De León to start the fifth.
“I don’t know why I’m giving up runs in the first inning, but I’m working on it to have better starts of games,” Castillo said.
Pavin Smith had three hits for Arizona.
“It kind of stinks to stall us right in the middle of that (eighth-inning) rally,” Gallen said. “The offense was about to do some more damage.”
CASTELLANOS SITS
Reds right fielder Nick Castellanos lost his appeal and began serving a two-game suspension for inciting a bench-clearing scuffle on April 3. Castellanos stood over, flexed and jawed at St. Louis pitcher Jake Woodford after scoring, touching off fights behind the plate and later in the outfield. Tyler Naquin started Tuesday and batted in Castellanos’ usual second spot in the order.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Diamondbacks: CF Ketel Marte (hamstring) and his replacement, Tim Locastro (jammed finger), are on the shelf with injuries. First baseman Christian Walker (strained oblique) also is still out. … Hitting coach Darnell Coles didn’t make the road trip after tearing his right Achilles tendon. He’s scheduled for surgery Friday.
Reds: 3B Mike Moustakas was put on the 10-day injured list retroactive to Saturday. He missed the entire weekend series against Cleveland with what manager David Bell said was a non-COVID-19 illness. … INF Alex Blandino was reinstated from the injured list.
UP NEXT
The suspended game will pick up in the top of the eighth inning Wednesday at 5:10 p.m. The originally scheduled game will start no earlier than 6:40 p.m.
The Reds planned to send right-hander Tyler Mahle (1-1) to the mound to face Diamondbacks right-hander Merrill Kelly (1-2) in the nightcap. Kelly earned a win despite allowing six runs on nine hits in six innings against the Nationals on Thursday. He’s allowed 23 hits and 15 earned runs in 16 innings this season. Mahle yielded two runs on three hits and struck out seven in a loss to the Giants on Wednesday.