It was a day for smallball. The Chicago Cubs utilized it. The Cincinnati Reds didn’t.
And the result was a Cubs 1-0 victory as the Reds frittered away another magnificent pitching performce by Nick Martinez.
The game’s only run came in the fifth inning. Nico Hoerner pulled a double into the left-field corner leading off the inning. Pete Crow-Armstrong wisely bunted him to third.
Miguel Amaya hit a sacrifice fly to right on which Jake Fraley had difficulty chasing down in the swirling wind.
And with that, the Reds lost their fourth straight, fell to 15-28 in one-run games and have scored three runs in their last 36 innings.
They’ve had trouble scoring runs lately against a gentle breeze and were hopeless and helpless against a whipping wind.
Meanwhile, the only aggressiveness the Reds displayed turned into a negative. Elly De La Cruz doubled in the first inning and tried to stretch it into a triple and was thrown out.
But knowing runs would be rare, the Reds failed to act upon opportunities.
Cubs catcher Amaya had seen 78 bases stolen while he was behind the plate and no runners have been thrown out when Chicago starter Jameson Taillon is on the mound.
The Reds had five opportunities to try to steal second and did not make a single attempt, even though all are base stealing threats.
Jonathan India was on first three times and didn’t try. TJ Friedl and Spencer Steer were each on once and didn’t try.
And the Reds probaby sent Martinez to the mound for the final time in their uniform. He has an opt-out clause in his contract and it is certain a big-market team will be at his front door.
On Friday, Martinez pitched his first career complete game and was the third MLB pitcher this year to pitch a complete game and lose.
For his eight innings, he held the Cubs to one run, five hits, walked none and struck out three, lowering his earned run average to 3.10.
He had won four straight starts coming in. And in those last five starts he pitched 32 2/3 innings, gave up three runs, walked four and struck out 30.
Chicago starter Jameson Taillon hadn’t had much success against the Reds, 1-3 in six career starts. But he muzzled the Reds on no runs and four hits over seven innings en route to his 12th victory.
With the wind howling in, the Reds lofted seven fly balls in the first five innings. They should have taken a clue from a ball hit by Chicago’s Ian Happ in the third inning.
He destroyed one, one that certainly would have landed on Sheffield Avenue behind the right field stands on a normal day. Reds right field Jake Fraley caught it in front of the warning track.
The Reds had opportunities knock, but they couldn’t open the door.
In the second inning, Taillon issued back-to-back one-out walks. But Fraley swung at the first pitch and flied to left and Santiago Espinal flied to right.
India singled with one out in the third, but De La Cruz grounded to the mound and Tyler Stephenson flied to left.
India singled to open the sixth but remain anchored at first. After getting ahead 3-and-0, De La Cruz struck out on the next three pitches and with India still on first Tyler Stephenson hit into a double play.
Spencer Steer started the seventh with a single, but the next three Reds grounded out.
India was hit by a pitch with two outs in the eighth, but De La Cruz struck out on three pitches his 215th strikeout this season.
Taillon has been nearly as efficient in September as Martinez. He is 4-0 with two no-decisions in his last six starts and given up three earned runs over 32 innings.
Cubs closer Porter Hodge made a fast save in the ninth, a 1-2-3 inning during which he struck out Steer on three pitches.
Right now, the Reds are the same as the Jackson Browne song, ‘Running On Empty.”
It was Chicago’s 82nd victory, assuring the Cubs of a winning season while the Reds fell to 76-84.
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