Realmuto, Aviles homer as Marlins sink Reds

MIAMI -- All phases of J.T. Realmuto's game are progressing. On Friday night, the 26-year-old catcher connected on a momentum-swinging homer in a four-run seventh inning that rallied the Marlins to a 7-4 victory over the Reds at Marlins Park.
"Those ones definitely feel a little bit better," Realmuto said of his homer, which nearly hit the auxiliary scoreboard in left. "I don't go up there too often. I'm going to enjoy this one."
Realmuto, who fell a triple shy of the cycle, now has a career-high 12 home runs, topping the 11 he hit in 2016. The Marlins overcame a three-run first-inning deficit, and they have now won three in a row, including the first two of a four-game set with the Reds.
"I just think his swing is still evolving a little bit, so there's more there," Marlins manager Don Mattingly said of his catcher's potential. "So again, I don't wanna put limits on it, but obviously he's at 12 now. You start to see this and start to think anything can happen."
In Miami's four-run seventh, Tyler Moore added an RBI double off Wandy Peralta. Mike Aviles belted his first career pinch-hit homer, a two-run shot against Drew Storen.
"Playing in the American League most of my career, so you don't get many [pinch-hit at-bats], and being a super utility, you're usually last off the bench," Aviles said. "So you don't usually get a lot of opportunities to pinch-hit. I'll remember that one, that's for sure."

A leadoff walk to Billy Hamilton in the first set up a three-run inning for Cincinnati against Vance Worley, making his first start since June 9 at Pittsburgh. Joey Votto knocked an RBI single, and Adam Duvall hit a two-run homer.
"The first inning was just misfires, was erratic. They hit mistakes that were down the middle," Worley said. "After that, I settled down and made my pitches, started working both sides of the plate well and was able to at least get through four and go as deep as I could."
The Marlins capitalized on Sal Romano's throwing error to score two unearned runs in the fourth inning. With the bases loaded and one out, pinch-hitter Tomás Telis tapped to Romano, who threw wildly to the plate. Miami tied it at 3 in the sixth on Giancarlo Stanton's RBI groundout to third.
"It kind of just sailed out of my hand," Romano said of the throwing error, which went along with six walks over 3 2/3 innings "There's just absolutely no excuse for that. I have to make that play."
• Romano hits bump in developmental road

Scott Schebler crushed a ninth-inning home run for the Reds off Junichi Tazawa. Statcast™ projected the second-deck drive at 432 feet with an exit velocity of 109 mph. But that couldn't stop a Reds losing skid that has reached five games, as the club is 2-13 since the All-Star break.

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Ichiro ties Biggio:Ichiro Suzuki has a flare for the dramatic. His pinch-hit double in the sixth inning advanced Miguel Rojas to third base, setting up the tying run. In the big picture, the two-base hit pulled the 43-year-old into a tie with Hall of Famer Craig Biggio for 22nd on the all-time list, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Ichiro now has 3,060 hits. Next up is Cap Anson, with 3,081.
"That was obviously a big hit, and their guy's got good stuff," Mattingly said. "Lorenzen throws the ball good. It looked like he just left the ball out and in to him a little bit that he was able to hook into that corner. So that was big because it did set us up and put them in danger."

Picking up the 'pen: An injury-depleted Miami bullpen received a big boost from lefty Hunter Cervenka, who struck out five, including four straight, in two innings. Worley worked four innings before Cervenka took over in the fifth with the Reds up, 3-2. In two frames, he issued one walk and allowed no hits.
"Hunter was a guy I would've rather have used a little bit later with the left-handed situation, but he ends up giving us two right there," Mattingly said. "Their lineup -- you can use your lefties, and those two innings are huge, because it gets us farther back into it. And then we're scoring during that time, so those two right there were big."
QUOTABLE
"We scored three in the first, and we really did nothing until Schebler hit the home run. We didn't create many scoring opportunities. We got Worley out of the game after four. Cervenka came in and did a nice job, and they kept bringing in guys that were dealing against us." -- Reds manager Bryan Price
SOUND SMART WITH YOUR FRIENDS
Votto's RBI single in the first inning gave him 800 for his career and tied him for 11th on the club's all-time list with Frank McCormick.

REPLAY REVIEW
Hamilton's Major League-leading 44th stolen base didn't come without some drama. After walking to lead off the game, Hamilton swiped second, but the Marlins challenged the safe call.
After one minute and four seconds, the call stood. Realmuto made an impressive attempt to get Hamilton. His throw speed was 86.2 mph, his second-fastest toss on a steal attempt at second this year, according to Statcast™. His pop time was 1.81 seconds, his fourth-quickest time.
It was a big call because Hamilton scored on Votto's RBI single in a three-run first.

WHAT'S NEXT
Reds: When the series continues at 7:10 p.m. ET on Saturday, Cincinnati will start Tim Adleman vs. Miami. Adleman has pitched six innings in each of his last two starts, but his previous outing at Cleveland saw him allow five earned runs on six hits with three walks and four strikeouts in an 8-5 loss.
Marlins: Left-hander Adam Conley, coming off seven shutout innings in a win at Texas, makes the start on Saturday against the Reds. In two career starts against Cincinnati, Conley is 2-0 with a 3.38 ERA.
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