The Cincinnati Reds continued their strong early-season surge Tuesday night, rallying late and erupting in extra innings to defeat the Miami Marlins 6–3 in 10 innings at loanDepot park, extending their winning streak to five games and matching their best start since 2011.
Miami appeared poised to ride a dominant outing from ace Sandy Alcantara, who carried a two-hit shutout into the ninth inning and had not allowed a run across his first 24 innings of the season. But the Reds flipped the script with aggressive baserunning and timely hitting, highlighted by a clutch performance from Matt McLain and a go-ahead hit from Nathaniel Lowe.
Trailing 2–0 entering the ninth, Cincinnati finally broke through against the Marlins’ bullpen. McLain doubled with one out, and Elly De La Cruz followed with a walk before Miami turned to reliever Anthony Bender.
The Reds immediately applied pressure, executing a double steal that set the stage for a sacrifice fly by Sal Stewart. Moments later, Bender uncorked a two-out wild pitch that allowed the tying run to score, handing him his second blown save of the season and stunning the home crowd.
Cincinnati breaks it open in extras, with momentum firmly on their side. The Reds took control in the 10th inning, as Lowe delivered a go-ahead single off Calvin Faucher to give Cincinnati its first lead of the night. McLain followed with a two-run double his second two-bagger of the game and De La Cruz added an RBI groundout to extend the advantage to 6–2.
McLain finished with two doubles and two RBIs, continuing his hot start as Cincinnati improved to 8–3 overall and remained perfect at 5–0 on the road.
Marlins strike early but fade late. Miami had provided Alcantara with early support in the second inning when Otto Lopez and Heriberto Hernández each produced run-scoring groundouts against Reds starter Andrew Abbott.
After falling behind in extra innings, the Marlins managed one run in the bottom half of the 10th on a groundout by Graham Pauley, but reliever Graham Ashcraft ended the game by inducing Connor Norby to hit into a double play.
Earlier, Emilio Pagán (1–0) played a key role in keeping Cincinnati within striking distance. He escaped a tense ninth-inning jam with runners on second and third by striking out Agustín Ramírez and retiring Jakob Marsee on a flyout.
Cincinnati entered the night as the last MLB team without an error this season, though that streak ended when McLain was called for obstruction at second base in the sixth inning on a play that initially appeared to be a caught stealing.
Still, the Reds’ resilience at the plate overshadowed the miscue as they completed another comeback victory during their early-season surge.
The series continues Wednesday with Brady Singer scheduled to start for Cincinnati against Miami right-hander Eury Pérez in the third game of the four-game set.
