PHOENIX – If these last few weeks of 2026 mean anything significant for the Cincinnati Reds, it figures to be mostly about what it signals for how they plan to bounce back in 2027.
Which makes the hottest topics on a 114-degree night in the Arizona desert the performances of free agent flier JJ Bleday and young pitcher Rhett Lowder in an 11-5 win over the playoff-hopeful Diamondbacks in Phoenix.
Bleday, the $1.4 million free agent signed in December after being non-tendered by the Athletics, became the eighth player in Reds history to hit for the cycle when he doubled in the first, tripled in the third, singled in the fourth and then lined the first pitch of the sixth inning over the left-field wall.
He's the first to do it since Elly De La Cruz did it in his 15th career game in 2023 and first Red to do it on the road since Heinie Groh in 1915 in Chicago.
In fact, De La Cruz, who went 4-for-6, came up a triple short of making Saturday night's game in Arizona the first in big-league history in which two players hit for the cycle.
#first #reds
Which makes the hottest topics on a 114-degree night in the Arizona desert the performances of free agent flier JJ Bleday and young pitcher Rhett Lowder in an 11-5 win over the playoff-hopeful Diamondbacks in Phoenix.
Bleday, the $1.4 million free agent signed in December after being non-tendered by the Athletics, became the eighth player in Reds history to hit for the cycle when he doubled in the first, tripled in the third, singled in the fourth and then lined the first pitch of the sixth inning over the left-field wall.
He's the first to do it since Elly De La Cruz did it in his 15th career game in 2023 and first Red to do it on the road since Heinie Groh in 1915 in Chicago.
In fact, De La Cruz, who went 4-for-6, came up a triple short of making Saturday night's game in Arizona the first in big-league history in which two players hit for the cycle.
#first #reds
2 months ago
