Spencer Steer belted a go-ahead two-run homer, doubled and scored twice against his former team to lead the Cincinnati Reds to a 4-2 rain-shortened win over the visiting Minnesota Twins on Wednesday.
The game was halted with two outs in the bottom of the sixth as heavy rains drenched the field and the tarp was placed on the infield. Following a long delay, the contest was ruled official.
Cincinnati starter Nick Lodolo (5-5) surrendered a home run to Byron Buxton on his first pitch of the game following a 2-hour, 7-minute rain delay. However, the lefty settled down, allowing two runs on three hits over six innings for his first win in five starts. He struck out four and walked two.
Matt McLain and Will Benson each drove in a run for the Reds, who earned their fourth straight win and their ninth in 11 games to move a season-best four games over .500.
The Reds amassed nine hits against Minnesota starter Bailey Ober (4-4). The right-hander was touched for four runs over 5 2/3 innings as Minnesota slipped below .500, losing its sixth straight and 10th in 12 games. Ober struck out five without issuing a walk.
Minnesota’s Brooks Lee extended his hitting streak to 18 games with a single to right in the fourth, but the Twins fell to 0-5 on their six-game trip through Houston and Cincinnati.
The start of the game was delayed due to torrential rains and gusting winds that put the field under an inch of water in some places. It took the grounds crew 45 minutes to prepare the field once the tarp was removed.
Steady rains resumed following the national anthem and continued as the game began before tapering off by the bottom of the first inning.
Buxton showed no ill effects from the delay, belting Lodolo’s initial offering several rows deep to the seats in left-center for his 11th career leadoff homer and second this season. It was Buxton’s second homer in as many games and his team-leading 13th of the year.
TJ Friedl opened the bottom of the first with a single and scored with two outs when Steer drove a fastball from Ober just over the wall in right for his sixth homer of the season and a 2-1 Cincinnati lead.
McLain and Benson delivered RBI singles in the second and third innings, respectively, before the Twins’ Trevor Larnach hit a run-scoring grounder in the fourth.
–Field Level Media
