Cincinnati Reds beat Arizona Diamondbacks on 11th-inning balk for 41st comeback win
PHOENIX — After three nights of roller-coaster highs and lows against the Arizona Diamondbacks, reaching frenetic pace by the late innings Saturday night at Chase Field, the Cincinnati Reds finally got a victory in the series because of a gift in the 11th inning.
A two-out balk by Nabil Crismatt in his Diamondbacks debut, with an 0-2 count on Reds rookie TJ Hopkins, pushed the go-ahead run home for the Reds in the 11th inning of an 8-7 victory.
Lucas Sims made it stand with a scoreless bottom of the 11th.
Reds rookiesCincinnati Reds Rookie Power Rankings: How Spencer Steer went home to nab top ranking
Reds Hunter GreeneAnother short start for Hunter Greene delivers 1-2 gut punch to Cincinnati Reds rotation
Reds Nick MartiniNick Martini, who entered Friday with two career HRs, homers twice for Reds in Arizona
The subdued 11th followed a wild 10th inning in which each team scored three times.
The Reds’ major-league-leading 41st come-from-behind win gave them their first win in three games of this four-game series that concludes Sunday afternoon.
They’re 4-2 to open a 10-game west coast swing, and the victory clinches the season series over the Diamondbacks, which gives the Reds the tiebreaker for a potential playoff berth (or seeding).
TJ Friedl, the automatic runner at second to start the 11th, was in position to score on the balk after taking third on Spencer Steer’s two-out infield single on a slow bouncer toward third.
The Reds — who got a home run from Matt McLain in the sixth and run-scoring single from red-hot Red Nick Martini in the eighth — tied it in the ninth against Diamondbacks closer Paul Sewald, who was acquired from Seattle at the trade deadline.
Noelvi Marte led off with a walk, stole second, scored on Tyler Stephenson’s one-out double, and then pinch-runner Michael Siani took third on a single by TJ Friedl (who continued to second on the throw toward the plate).
McLain tied the game with a grounder to second, Friedl advancing to third — where he was stranded when Elly De La Cruz hit a drive to the wall.