A bloop single to shallow CF allowed two unearned Cleveland Guardians runs to score. On that bloop, the Cincinnati Reds biggest offseason acquisition hurt himself when he collided with the team’s most frequently injured player next to him.

As the scoreboard approached the Bottom of the 6th, Shane Bieber was pitching a no-hitter, and it all happened on a day when the Cincinnati Reds’ COO teased us twice, threatening to pack up shop and transfer the team if we didn’t fall in line.

It wasn’t your normal Opening Day, and that’s before you consider that it was April 12th and the Reds had already played four games.

Despite all of the commotion, the Cincinnati Reds scuffed it up, rolled up their clichés, and punched their way back into contention in the GABP opening. For a while, at least (and I didn’t want to rewrite the majority of this for the third time).

Jake Fraley’s two-bagger broke up Bieber’s no-hitter bid in the home half of the sixth inning, following a Kyle Farmer walk.

After a 2-run double by Jonathan India, the Cleveland ace was chased, and lefty Anthony Gose was brought on to face Tyler Naquin in a crucial situation.

Of course, Naquin has only been a platoon bat since joining the Reds, but with Tommy Pham already out after colliding with Nick Senzel in CF, Aristides Aquino – the other half of the Naquin platoon – was already in the game.

That put Naquin in a tough hole against his former team, and he answered by socking the everloving hell out of a ball, a 2-run dinger off the batter’s eye in CF that tied the game at 4-4 and enthralled the GABP crowd.

Regrettably, that was the last of the day’s positive vibes. Kyle Farmer hit to start a potential rally in the bottom of the eighth inning, but he was doubled off first base on a flyout to LF because he tried to steal on the pitch.

That, along with the decision to use Hunter Strickland in the ninth inning after Tony Santillan pitched an 11-pitch Top of the 8th, took the life out of the stadium.

That call was amplified almost immediately, thanks to Andres Gimenez’s leadoff double and eventual 2-run homer. Strickland eventually left after allowing another pair of Guardians to reach base, forcing David Bell to resort to Daniel Duarte for help.

However, it continued to jam. Steven Kwan reached for the bags ahead of José Ramirez, who slammed a grand slam into the RF seats to add salt to our wounds.

The scoreboard read 10-4 in Cleveland’s favour, and while the Reds added a run in the bottom of the 10th, that was the end of the game on Opening Day.

Cincinnati Reds were defeated 10-5.

Honorary Star of the Game Joe Nuxhall Memorial

It’s Naquin, whose home run was the Reds’ most memorable moment of the day.

Tyler Stephenson, who threw out three (!!!) would-be Cleveland base-stealers on the day, and Tony Santillan, who pitched another filthy-clean inning in the eighth, deserve Honorable Mentions.

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