‘Low-key kind of a joke’: Reds fans talk Pete Rose reinstatement
Fans showed up to Great American Ball Park to show support for Pete Rose on Pete Rose Day, one day after the MLB reinstated him.
Finally, everything went right for the Cincinnati Reds.
Cincinnati dropped the first two games of its series to the Chicago White Sox, as well as nine of its last 11 games overall, but turned things around to take Thursday’s series finale off Chicago, 7-1, at Great American Ball Park. Before a crowd of 19,513, acting center fielder Will Benson drove in three runs to help the Reds avoid the series sweep.
In salvaging the series finale against the 14-30 White Sox, Cincinnati improved to 21-24 on the season. The Reds will hope some momentum carries over for this weekend’s three-game series against the Cleveland Guardians, the last club current Reds manager Terry Francona presided over.
“Now, we’ve got to back it up, and that’s part of the game,” Francona said. “But, enjoy today… It (the win) helps a lot. It really does. I was happy, certainly, that we won but I thought we played a crisp, good game. Good baseball weather out there − everybody getting a little lather going − but we played a good game.”
The Guardians were idle Thursday and enter Great American Ball Park with a 25-18 overall record. Cleveland took two out of three games against the Milwaukee Brewers in their last series. The Guardians have an 11-10 road record, making them one of 10 MLB clubs playing above .500 away from home.
On Thursday, Reds starting pitcher Nick Martinez (2-4) was in charge from the outset against Chicago and retired the first 13 batters he faced. Chicago didn’t register a hit until Matt Thaiss’s one-out single in the top of the fifth inning.
Martinez ended up going seven scoreless innings, which equaled a career-high. He allowed just two hits on the day and didn’t concede a walk for the third consecutive start (19 innings).
“Because they had to respect all (Martinez’s) pitches, he was getting his fastball by their barrels a lot,” Francona said.
Offensively, the Reds went to work immediately, loading the bases in the first inning as the first three batters of the game all reached. Those runners were later driven home, first on an Austin Hays’ sacrifice fly, and then a two-run single by Benson.
Benson would later mash a solo home run to center field. He went 2-for-3 with three RBI and a walk in the contest, improving to 4-for-7 in the series after entering Tuesday’s game midstream for an injured T.J. Friedl. Benson, whose RBI on Thursday all came with two outs, also contributed some tidy glove work to Cincinnati’s cause in Wednesday’s 4-2 loss.
“I’m grateful for the opportunity to go out there and play,” Benson said. “Work on the craft. Work on the skills… Just very grateful for the mindset and the perspective I have down there (in Triple-A Louisville).”
Benson’s homer cleared the right-center field wall just beyond the reach of Chicago center fielder Luis Robert Jr. That was one of three long-balls for the Reds as Elly De La Cruz blasted his eighth home run of the season on an opposite-field solo shot to left-center field in the third inning. Later, Matt McLain went deep to left field for his sixth homer of 2025 in the sixth inning.
After being dropped to the No. 8 position in the batting order to begin the Chicago series, McLain went 2-for-3 with a walk on Thursday. He was 4-for-11 over the three games.
“He’s a good player. He’s gonna hit,” Francona said of McLain. “He’s just too good. But I don’t want to predict when and where. I just know he’ll get there.”
Gavin Lux, who also went 2-for-3 with a walk, drove in a run on an infield grounder in the fourth inning.
All told, the Reds notched 12 hits. Four players had two hits while three Reds reached base three times (Benson, McLain, Lux).
“There was a lot of good things that happened today,” Francona said. “Again, now we’ve got to back it up. That’s part of our game, but it’s a place to start.”
White Sox starting pitcher Bryse Wilson (0-2) allowed seven runs on 10 hits, plus a walk, by the end of his 5 1/3 innings.
Martinez was relieved by Taylor Rogers. The White Sox broke up the shutout against him in the eighth inning, but that was the only run Chicago managed on the day. Miguel Vargas’ single plated Joshua Palacios.
Luis Mey came on for the final three outs and closed out the victory for the Reds.
As of now, Francona’s former club is scheduled to start Tanner Bibee (3-3, 3.80 ERA) on Friday night against Brady Singer (4-2, 4.97 ERA). The game is scheduled for a 6:40 p.m. start.
