Reds Beat Texas In 11
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ARLINGTON, Texas — Devin Mesoraco left no doubt in sending an 11th-inning pitch over the left-field wall to push the Cincinnati Reds to a 6-4 win over the Texas Rangers on Saturday at Rangers Ballpark.
Cincinnati (46-35) snapped a three-game skid, improved to 3-7 in their last 10 games and ended a drought of two consecutive games without scoring a run.
Todd Frazier was hit by Rangers reliever Kyle McClellan to open the 11th inning and bring Mesoraco to the plate. Mesoraco needed just three pitches to knock his fourth homer of the year.
The Rangers had their opportunity to walk off in the 10th, but they stranded runners on the corners when Adrian Beltre fouled out to the catcher.
Texas (47-34) and failed to increase its half-game lead in the American League West with Oakland’s loss to the St. Louis Cardinals earlier in the day.
Mike Leake pitched seven innings for Cincinnati before giving way to Sam LeCure. Leake gave up just three hits and an earned run, a blemish in the sixth.
Leake received little help from his defense, with three runs in the third coming off
three errors. Leake finished with four strikeouts and a walk on the way to his second no-decision in four starts and closed out May with a 3-1 record.
Shin-Soo Choo needed just one pitch to end a 22-inning scoreless drought for the Reds. Choo sent the first offering of the game over the left-field fence for his second leadoff homer of the week and fifth of the season.
With the bases loaded in the third inning, Brandon Phillips broke a 0-for-18 skid with runners in scoring position by knocking a bloop single to center. The Reds were 0-for-10 in Friday’s contest.
The Reds allowed the Rangers to take the lead in the bottom half of the third by doing something they had not done since 2006: put up three errors in an inning.
Joey Votto was responsible for the first two, fumbling a soft grounder from Engel Beltre to first and then throwing the ball away to home two batters later to allow Beltre to score from third.
Reaching second on the error, Ian Kinsler took advantage of the third error of the inning when shortstop Zack Cozart pulled third baseman Jack Hannahan away from the bag trying to get Kinsler on another fielder’s choice.
Nelson Cruz plated Kinsler on the next at-bat to give Texas a 3-2 lead.
Texas starter Nick Tepesch continued to struggle when facing the order a third time: Opponents were hitting .429 coming into the game.
Three consecutive hits to begin the fifth from the top of the order bounced the right-hander from the game after the Reds had tied it at three.
Tepesch lasted four innings, giving up three earned runs on six hits and two walks while recording seven strikeouts.
