Game 5 of the NLDS: Cincinnati Reds Aristides, a Greek hero.
For the decider, Atlanta sent Game 2 loser Fried against Castillo, the starter in Cincinnati’s game 1 loss.
The Reds mounted an immediate threat when Senzel, making his first start of the series, doubled into the right-field corner and moved to third on Votto’s ground out. Suarez sent a soft fly ball to short center, Senzel tagging and coming home. But Acuna’s bullet throw gunned him down ad killed the inning without damage.
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Atlanta had a shot of its own in the second. With one out and Markakis at first, Camargo dropped a two-base hit into the gap in right-center, sending Ozuna to third. But D’Arnaud could manage nothing more than a foul pop to Votto, and Swanson’s fly to left only went down as the third out.
The Braves broke through in the fourth. With two out, Camargo reached on a base hit, advanced on a walk to D’Arnaud, and scored on Swanson’s base hit. Shogo Akiyama, pinch-hitting for Castillo, drew a base on balls to start the seventh, taking third on Senzel’s single and scoring when Votto bounced into a double play.
At the bottom of the inning, D’Arnaud’s one-out single sent home Markakis, who had singled, with the go-ahead run. Cincinnati tied the game 2-2 in the seventh on Curt Casali’s base hit, scoring Moustakas, who had doubled.
Both teams missed scoring opportunities in the eighth, the Atlanta Braves getting leadoff hits from Freeman and Ozuna to put runners at first and second with none out. But Garrett coaxed a double-play ball out of Markakis, then fanned Camargo.
Greene, who had stifled Cincinnati’s threat in the top of the eighth, made the mistake of walking Moustakas to begin the ninth. That brought up Aquino, and he crashed a two-run home run into the right-field seats to push the Reds on top 4-2.
Iglesias came on in the bottom of the ninth to wrap up the series, and he got d’Arnaud on an infield grounder for the first out. But this drama-laden series was not about to end quietly. Pinch hitter Adeiny Hechavarria drove a double into the gap in center, and one out later Acuna walked to put the tying runs on base. But Albies tapped meekly back to Iglesias for the final out that pushed the Reds into the NLCS against the winner of the Arizona-Los Angeles series.