Major League Baseball

Reds unravel in costly 7th

Published Oct. 9, 2010 4:23 a.m. ET

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The Reds' lead disappeared in the seventh inning at 100 mph.

Cincinnati became unglued in Game 2 of the NL division series against the Philadelphia Phillies - with Aroldis Chapman on the mound. The rookie was called upon to preserve a one-run lead with his triple-digit fastball and send the Reds back to Cincinnati with the best-of-five series tied.

Instead, they go back trying to stave off elimination after a 7-4 loss.

Right fielder Jay Bruce made the biggest miscue in a sloppy game - six errors combined - but he wasn't alone in the Reds' seventh-inning fielding follies. Chapman hit a batter, second baseman Brandon Phillips botched a relay throw and third baseman Scott Rolen got caught in a thorny fielding play that showed this Reds machine needs a tune-up.

''The way we lost today, that's not like us,'' Phillips said.

One of the top defensive teams in baseball during the regular season, the Reds' meltdown let the Phillies take the lead in the seventh before even getting a hit. Bruce missed a catchable line drive that led to the Phillies scoring the go-ahead runs.

The Phillies fans serenaded him with singsong chants of ''Thank you, Jay Bruce!'' They stood and gave him mock cheers when he had a putout in the eighth.

Bruce accepted full responsibility for the lapse and was the first Red in the locker room to answer questions.

''It's embarrassing. I take a lot of pride in my defense,'' Bruce said.

It was that bad of a late-game breakdown that saw the lead crumble faster than Chapman's fastball.

Chapman, the 22-year-old Cuban lefty, couldn't help the Reds with his 100 mph heater. He grazed Chase Utley with a pitch to open the inning, though replays were unclear if the ball actually hit the Phillies star.

Chapman didn't need a replay to know the ball whizzed past Utley.

''No, I don't think at any time the ball hit him,'' he said through a translator.

Chapman recovered to fan Ryan Howard on three swings - fastballs at 100-99-101 mph.

At that point, the Phillies only had one more hit against the Reds (4) than times hit-by-pitch (3).

''I'm always thinking I have control of the game,'' Chapman said. ''But things didn't go the way I want.''

Then the gaffes piled up.

Jayson Werth hit a tough, in-between hop to Rolen that the seven-time third baseman threw to second instead of taking the easy out at first. His gamble backfired as Utley was called safe on a close call and Reds manager Dusty Baker came out for a brief argument. Rolen said he threw to second because he wanted to be aggressive against the tying baserunner and he had a shorter throw.

''I was hoping he was out, but I don't make the call,'' Rolen said.

Then came the play that had Cincinnati seeing red.

Jimmy Rollins hit the first 100 mph pitch he saw right at Bruce. Bruce said he lost the ball in the lights - not the backdrop of 40,000 fans waving white rally towels - and the ball sailed past his glove. Utley scored the tying run and Werth busted home, too, when Phillips dropped the relay throw for an error.

Bruce was the late-season hero after his ninth inning homer brought Cincinnati its first NL Central title since 1995 with a 3-2 win over the Houston Astros on Sept. 28. His Game 1 walk against Roy Halladay made him the only Red to reach base in the no-hitter.

He never saw the ball until bounced past him.

''After it got to its highest point, it went in the lights and stayed there,'' Bruce said.

Chapman took the loss while the pitcher he called his hero growing up in Cuba, Jose Contreras, earned the win.

The Reds finished second in the NL with a club-record .988 fielding percentage. But they committed two errors in the seventh, and Rolen and Phillips each made errors in the fifth.

More signs of what a complete defensive breakdown the game was: Phillips made only three errors all season. The teams set an NL division series record for errors in a game and the Reds tied the mark for a single game.

''We had that game,'' Phillips said. ''Maybe it was meant for us to win Game 3 and just go from there.''

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