Reed, Gennett lead Reds past Marlins
MIAMI — Cody Reed earned his first victory as a starter and Scooter Gennett homered and doubled to lead the Cincinnati Reds to a 4-2 win over the Miami Marlins on Thursday night.
Reed (1-2) scattered five hits and struck out six in six shutout innings. The lefthander joined the starting rotation Aug. 30 and has thrown 11 consecutive scoreless innings.
Gennett’s two-run home run in the seventh gave Cincinnati a 4-0 lead. Gennett’s blast off Miami reliever Elieser Hernandez landed in the upper deck in right field and was his 23rd homer.
The Marlins threatened in the sixth as Starlin Castro and J.T. Realmuto singled, but Reed retired Peter O’Brien on a double-play grounder and Austin Dean on a fly to center.
Realmuto’s two-out RBI double off reliever Jared Hughes cut Cincinnati’s lead to 4-1. Raisel Iglesias inherited Realmuto and allowed a run-scoring single by O’Brien before retiring pinch hitter Derek Dietrich on a fly to center.
Iglesias walked two in the ninth before Gennett made a diving stop on a hard grounder by Miguel Rojas and threw him out at first for the final out. Iglesias earned his 29th save in 33 opportunities.
The Reds struck early on Gennett’s two-run double off Miami starter Jeff Brigham in the third. Gennett drove in Billy Hamilton and Scott Schebler, who had reached on walks.
Brigham (0-3) allowed two runs, three hits, four walks and struck out six in his third major league start since being promoted from Triple A New Orleans.
Also, Derek Jeter signaled Thursday that Don Mattingly is expected to return next year as manager of the Marlins, providing some dugout continuity for the team in transition.
Mattingly has one season to go on a four-year contract he signed when he joined the Marlins for the 2016 season.
“Is he going to be back in 2019?” Jeter said. “He’s under contract. Yeah.”
The Marlins will finish last in the NL East in Jeter’s first year as CEO.
Mattingly has said he likes the challenge of developing the Marlins’ many young players. He also has embraced Jeter’s approach to rebuilding a franchise that hasn’t had a winning season since 2009, the longest streak in the majors, and hasn’t been to the playoffs since 2003.