Rare success highlights Reds’ troubles with runners in scoring position

CINCINNATI — Entering Sunday’s series finale with the Baltimore Orioles, the Cincinnati Reds were hitting .221 with runners in scoring position — dead last in Major League Baseball.It’s been that lack of a big hit — or any hit — that’s doomed the team. The Reds left 19 runners on base in the first two games of their weekend series with the Orioles and were 4-for-19 with runners in scoring position.The importance was magnified Sunday when the team left three runners on base but then added the eventual game-winning run on Sal Stewart’s double with two outs in the eighth inning, scoring Edwin Arroyo, the first runner in scoring position of the game. That gave the Reds a two-run lead and an eventual 3-2 victory over the Orioles.Baltimore starter Kyle Bradish gave up a home run with a runner on first in the fifth inning but was still in the game in the eighth when Arroyo had a one-out single. Arroyo advanced to second on a wild pitch with Elly De La Cruz at the plate, but Bradish struck out the Reds’ leadoff man to bring up the rookie Stewart, who was named to the All-Star team Saturday.

Swings like this are why he's an All-Star @stewart_sal pic.twitter.com/nxVVxvXaAc

— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) July 5, 2026Orioles manager Craig Albernaz came to the mound ostensibly to pull his starter, who had been brilliant most of the day, retiring the first 12 batters of the game in order before a walk and a home run by Spencer Steer in the fifth.Even after that, Bradish gave up just two more singles before Arroyo reached in the eighth.Bradish gave up just two more hits, both singles, before Arroyo’s one-out single in the eighth. After Bradish struck out Reds leadoff man De La Cruz for the second out of the inning, Albernaz came to the mound to pull his starter.“I wanted to talk to him, and right away when I got there, he was adamant about (staying) in there,” Albernaz told reporters afterward. “He definitely earned the right. Runner on second base, two outs, in the eighth inning, with the way he was throwing, he earned the right to do it.”