CINCINNATI -- Johnny Cueto vs. Gerrit Cole in Game 162 of the season. Reds vs. Pirates. It's exactly what the MLB schedule makers had in mind. The only thing missing from the scenario was the Reds weren't going to the postseason no matter what the game's result. They'll quickly want to put this season behind them.
On Sunday, though, they got to relish for one last time the pitching of Cueto, who has had a Cy Young-worthy season.
His hitting prowess was an added bonus.
Cueto became the first Reds pitcher to win 20 games in a season since 1988 and the first right-hander to reach that number since 1965 as the Reds wrapped up the season with a 4-1 win against playoff-bound Pittsburgh at Great American Ball Park. Cueto stifled the Pirates from the mound for eight innings and, in a scenario no manager in his right mind is going to choose except on this particular day with this particular pitcher, he drove in the decisive run with a one-out single up the middle through a drawn-in infield against an All-Star pitcher.
Go figure.
"It's Johnny Beisbol Day and anything can happen," said Jason Bourgeois, who scored the go-ahead run after leading off the bottom of the eighth inning with a triple into left-center field off Pittsburgh reliever Tony Watson.
"The odds are in our favor when Johnny is on the mound, even if he's at the plate. It's been an incredible year for him. I'm so happy he was able to get his 20th win."
Manager Bryan Price chose player over team and over everything else when he called back pinch hitter Ramon Santiago from the on-deck circle and sent Cueto to the plate to hit for himself in the bottom of the eighth inning. If the Reds are in the position that either Pittsburgh or St. Louis was facing Sunday, a position in which the outcome of this game mattered for postseason seeding and setting up a pitching rotation, there's no way Price sends Cueto to the plate.
But the Reds weren't in that position. They've been out of the postseason chase the entire month of September. A 20th win is nothing to scoff at, even in this age of advanced baseball metrics. It holds meaning.
"If there is anybody that earned that opportunity it was Johnny and, to me, that was more important than everything else today," said Price. "I put Johnny Cueto above everything else, including our ball club, including the playoff race, etc..., because I felt like he earned it. I wasn't so unsure that he wouldn't put the ball in play right there and drive in that run.
"I don't know that I would've done that with any other pitcher."
With Bourgeois on third base, Zack Cozart lined out hard to Pittsburgh third baseman Josh Harrison, the Cincinnati native and alum of Princeton High School and the University of Cincinnati who seemingly makes every play in his zip code. That's when Price made the call to send Cueto to the plate. He had eight hits in 67 previous at-bats.
There is no page in any managerial book that would suggest making this move. Except on Johnny Beisbol Day.
Cueto fell behind 1-2 but worked the count full as Watson missed a couple of 95 mph sinkers inside. Cueto fouled off a 96 mph sinker as well. Watson wasn't going to walk the pitcher in this situation. Cueto got a sinker to hit and drove right back up the middle to score Bourgeois.
"I had 104 pitches, there's a man at third. I don't understand why (Price) trusts me," said Cueto, through translator Tomas Vera, "and at the same time I'm really happy that he's confident in me and I hit the hit and we took the lead. That's why I don't understand it because there was a man on third and he could've brought in a pinch hitter."
Santiago hit a walk-off grand slam in the 10th inning on Saturday as the Reds won 10-6. He was ready for his chance again Sunday but didn't mind getting called back to the dugout.
"That's one of the highlights of the year right there," said Santiago. "He battled the whole at-bat, to get the pitcher to a 3-2 count and finally you knew he was going to get a pitch so he put a good swing and got the winning hit. Johnny, he deserved it. He worked hard for it."
The lead in hand, Cueto came out of the game to a standing ovation in favor of pinch runner Yorman Rodriguez. Rodriguez didn't have to do too much running as he scored on Kristopher Negron's two-run homer that gave closer Aroldis Chapman a little extra breathing room.
Chapman gave up a broken bat single to Staling Marte to lead off the ninth but then struck out Gaby Sanchez, Jordy Mercer and Tony Sanchez to end the game, end the Reds' regular season and secure No. 20 for Cueto. It was Chapman's 36th save in 38 save chances this season and the 11th time he closed out a win for Cueto.
Cueto finishes the season 20-9 with a 2.25 ERA over 243 2/3 innings. He gave up just 169 hits and walked only 65 while striking out 242 batters. He has the most innings pitched in the National League and is tied with Stephen Strasburg of the Washington Nationals for the league lead in strikeouts. If not for ridiculous season Clayton Kershaw of the Los Angeles Dodgers is having, Cueto's only competition for the Cy Young would be St. Louis' Adam Wainwright.
Danny Jackson was the last Reds pitcher to win 20 games when he won 23 in 1988. His Cy Young-worthy season was overshadowed by the dominance of Dodger Orel Hershiser. Jim Maloney (20) and Sammy Ellis (22) were the last Cincinnati right-handers to win 20 in a single season, in 1965. Cueto won 19 games two years ago.
"I feel great, I feel happy to win my 20 games," said Cueto. "All I ask God is to keep myself healthy and to keep my team together. I hope that we come back and can keep doing this and go to the playoffs. That's what we want."
Cueto suffered through an injury-riddled 2013 season, a season that ended with him being serenaded off the mound at PNC Park in Pittsburgh during last season's NL wild card game to the chants of his last name. There was a sizable Pittsburgh crowd at GABP Sunday, a crowd hoping for a Pirates win that could possibly set up a one-game playoff on Monday for the NL Central title in St. Louis.
That crowd began to serenade Cueto again in the top of the eighth inning after Travis Snider doubled with two outs to bring to the plate reigning NL MVP Andrew McCutchen. A classic confrontation was minimized when Cueto hit McCutchen with his second pitch.
Neil Walker had singled in the first inning off of Cueto. He homered in the fourth to produce Pittsburgh's run and he had hit the ball well in the sixth inning on a fly out to left field. He wouldn't have been the first choice for Cueto to be facing in this situation.
Cueto fell behind 2-0 before getting a call strike on the third pitch. Walker hit the next pitch on the ground to Todd Frazier wide at first base. Cueto gave a fist pump as he took Frazier's underhanded toss and stepped on the bag for the final out of the inning.
"I was down in the count to him and then I threw a changeup," said Cueto. "When I saw the ground ball I said 'I've got it. I've got it. He's mine.'"
And yes, he heard the chants from the Pirates fans. This was Cueto's sixth start of the season against the Pirates. He was 4-0 against them coming into Sunday, not having thrown fewer than six innings in any start and twice throwing complete games against them.
The chants meant nothing.
"Yes, I heard them, but like I said before, I've heard them say that and they've only beat me one time," said Cueto.
And they weren't going to beat him on Johnny Beisbol Day.
