CINCINNATI -- Efforts to write off the Reds have been erased -- multiple times. Nailing their playoff hopes in a coffin has repeatedly been foiled Beatrix Kiddo-style, like in the movie "Kill Bill."
Not only are the Reds still alive for a postseason spot, they finally control their own destiny in the National League Wild Card race. It came after a 1-0 victory over the Cubs to complete a four-game series sweep for their fifth consecutive win and sixth in their past seven games.
"Obviously, [we] would’ve loved to get out of here with some wins, but that’s a team that’s extremely motivated and playing for their lives,” said Cubs starter Jameson Taillon, who allowed one run over seven innings for a hard-luck loss. “They just played really well."
Because of the Mets’ loss to the Nationals, the Reds (80-76) moved into a tie for the final NL Wild Card spot with six games remaining in the regular season. By virtue of winning four of its six games against New York in the season, Cincinnati holds the tiebreaker.
“You can’t kill us," said reliever Nick Martinez, who pitched 2 1/3 scoreless innings for the victory. "This was the biggest series of the season so far, and we’ve got a couple of more big ones."
Also in Cincinnati’s favor, not only does it have the tiebreaker advantage over New York, it also has it over the next team in the Wild Card hunt: Arizona.
On Aug. 19, the Reds were a season-high seven games over .500 at 67-60 before dropping 16 of their next 24 games. On Sept. 5, when Cincinnati was handed a crushing 5-4 loss to New York, it fell to six games back from the last Wild Card spot.
Since then, the Reds have gone 10-5 while the Mets are 4-11.
“We’ve kind of grinded," said Gavin Lux, who delivered a two-out RBI double in the third inning for the game's only run. "We’ve been through a lot as a team together: injuries, struggling together. We’ve had some highs, a lot of lows, and I think to get hot right now, it’s great. We deserve it. We’ve grinded out, and we’re seeing the rewards at the end here. But we’ve got to finish it."
It was during the seventh inning when the final score of the Mets’ game was shown on the scoreboard at Great American Ball Park. The crowd of 29,661 fans cheered with approval.
“We were keeping tabs in the bullpen," Martinez said. "It made us very hungry and gave us that extra edge.”
Reds starter Andrew Abbott pitched 4 2/3 innings and kept the Cubs off the scoreboard. But Abbott threw a lot of pitches -- 86, with 51 strikes -- in a short amount of time.
Managing with even more urgency, Terry Francona did not let Abbott finish the fifth inning for the personal win after he gave up Ian Happ's two-out single. Martinez was summoned to take over.
“He probably wasn’t going to go out for the next inning," Francona said. "We’re at a point in the season where I don’t think anybody cares who gets the win as long as it’s us.”
Martinez struck out Seiya Suzuki as the bullpen went on to work 4 1/3 scoreless innings. Graham Ashcraft pitched the eighth inning, and with closer Emilio Pagán unavailable, Tony Santillan worked the ninth. Santillan overcame a leadoff walk and a two-out walk by striking out Pete Crow-Armstrong for his seventh save.
“It feels good for the team," Santillan said of the Reds' spot in the standings. "We always believed in each other, and we knew we wouldn’t go down without a fight. This game meant a lot, obviously. Now we’ve got to finish strong and kind of keep pushing, keep playing this kind of brand of baseball. Chip on our shoulders, come back and be ready to go Tuesday.”
Following Monday's off-day, the Reds begin their final three-game home series on Tuesday vs. the Pirates. The series includes a matchup of Hunter Greene vs. NL Cy Young contender Paul Skenes. After that are three games in Milwaukee vs. the first-place Brewers.
Cincinnati has not beaten Milwaukee in a series since 2022.
“I think the important thing is just to continue to focus on the next three and then [the] following three after that," Abbott said. "We do have a little more say in what goes on now, but we still need to win. We still need to come out and win the series against both of these teams. Just go out and handle business, and from then on out, I think we’re in control of the driver’s seat.”