Fraley's grand slam spoiled by 'too many mistakes' in finale

CINCINNATI -- Right fielder Jake Fraley had the moment on Thursday that he and the Reds have been waiting for. Fraley's first home run of the season was a go-ahead grand slam in the eighth inning against the Mariners. That should have been a moment to celebrate on a flight to Baltimore.

But an afternoon filled with poor team defense caught up to the Reds and the bill came due. During an 11-7 loss to Seattle in 10 innings, Cincinnati committed four errors, including two by shortstop Elly De La Cruz.

“Tough day. Keep it up, wait for tomorrow," De La Cruz said.

Of all the Mariners runs that crossed, just five were earned.

"I thought we played with a lot of heart, which is good. We just made too many mistakes to win a game like that today," manager Terry Francona said.

Two of the errors came in the top of the fifth inning of a 2-2 game and led to a pair of Seattle runs. With a runner on first base, Jorge Polanco hit a single to right field. As Julio Rodríguez motored to third base, Fraley's heave to third base was up the line and bounced off Santiago Espinal for an error on the Reds right fielder that allowed Polanco to take second base.

It soon proved pivotal after De La Cruz whiffed on a backhanded glove attempt on Cal Raleigh's lofted one-hopper towards the shortstop. Rodríguez scored on the mistake.

“I just missed it. No excuses. I made a mistake. I’ll be ready for next time," De La Cruz said.

De La Cruz leads the Majors with five errors this season, including three in the last two games, and led the Majors in errors last season (29). The Reds had shown improved defense in the first two weeks of the season, however, as they led the Majors in DRS and were third in OAA, entering Thursday's game.

It was tied again at 7 in the top of the 10th inning when reliever Graham Ashcraft misplayed a sacrifice bunt attempt by leadoff batter Miles Mastrobuoni. After Randy Arozarena's two-run double gave the Mariners a three-run lead, De La Cruz muffed a Donovan Solano grounder at the back edge of the dirt, and a fourth run crossed.

Earlier in the game as starter Brady Singer pitched in the second inning, a couple of defensive mistakes prolonged the inning. On a foul ball to left field by Mastrobuoni, Blake Dunn ran in and called off Espinal, but Dunn dropped the ball on a tough play. The next batter, J.P. Crawford, hit a pop up over the grass as catcher Austin Wynns and Espinal both gave pursuit. The ball dropped between them without a play.

Neither play was called an error. Singer was out of the game after 92 pitches and 4 1/3 innings.

"It made it really tough on Singer early on," Francona said. "He didn’t have his best stuff. We prolonged that inning and probably cost him an inning, too. There’s a lot more that goes into it than just the errors on the board.”

All of that seemed wiped from the board in the bottom of the eighth when Fraley had his first big offensive moment of the season. With the bases loaded and given an 0-1 fastball over the heart of the plate by Eduard Bazardo, Fraley drove it into the right field seats for his first home run of the season and second career grand slam. His other grand slam came as a member of the Mariners against the Angels on June 5, 2021.

“It felt amazing," said Fraley who went 3-for-5 and raised his average from .190 to .234. "Not only to obviously give our team a lead in the late innings, but also to do it against a team I used to play for makes it a little bit more cool. To be able to put ourselves in a position to win is always fun. For you to be the guy to do that, it felt good.”

Closer Emilio Pagán blew his first save in five chances this season when Raleigh and Arozarena slugged back-to-back homers to open the top of the ninth inning.

Instead of a 5-1 homestand, the Reds finished it 4-2 and went back below .500 at 9-10 ahead of a 10-day, nine-game road trip at Baltimore, Miami and Colorado.

“We didn’t play a clean game by any means," Pagán said. "But the guys did a good enough job to give me a chance to win the game for us, and I didn’t come through. That part is going to lay heavy on me for a little bit.”