'X factor' propels Fraley, Reds to 5th straight win

OAKLAND -- For much of Saturday afternoon at the Coliseum, the Reds couldn't seem to catch a break. They smoked some balls directly into the gloves of A's fielders. Hunter Greene gave up a small lead early on, and his team couldn't scratch anything across to even the tally.

Down a run heading into the ninth inning, Cincinnati appeared destined for a tough-luck loss. But the Reds rallied all the way back to nab a come-from-behind, 3-2 victory in Oakland, collecting consecutive series wins and pushing their win streak to five games for the first time this season -- matching their longest such streak from 2022.

The Reds' perseverance was again put to the test as they won in their final at-bat for the fourth time in their last five games.

Did Saturday's tilt feel like an uphill battle at times?

"Yeah, but it's a great day," Greene said. "We got a win. That's all I care about."

With the bases loaded in the top of the ninth, Jake Fraley jumped on the first offering he saw from A's right-hander Jeurys Familia and drove the ball down the first-base line, where it deflected off the bag. A substantial chunk of Fraley's bat flew into the air as well, landing in the Coliseum's spacious foul territory.

"We caught a break there," manager David Bell said. "But you create those breaks. You create the opportunity with the tough at-bats. Starting with Henry [Ramos], Kevin Newman, Nick Senzel -- I mean, they put us in a position to put the ball in play and catch a break."

The game-winning hit bore some resemblance to another critical knock from Fraley, his bases-clearing double that drove in the go-ahead run in Philadelphia on April 9. Fraley splintered his bat then, too.

"I've got to get new wood," cracked Fraley, who has hit safely in five straight games, going 6-for-15 (.400) and driving in six runs in that span.

As for Greene's performance on Saturday, he did not factor into the decision in his fifth start of the '23 season, allowing two unearned runs over five innings.

Though Greene showed flashes of dominance, striking out 10 and getting 24 whiffs on 55 swings, he wasn't able to pitch as deep into the game as he would have liked after needing 66 pitches to get through the second and third innings.

In the second inning, the leadoff batter reached on an error from Senzel, who made a nice barehanded grab on Carlos Pérez's infield grounder but rushed the throw to first. From there, Greene allowed three more hits in the frame, giving Oakland an early 2-0 lead.

When he returned for the third, Greene found that his landing spot was too muddy, so the A's grounds crew came out to rake the mound. The hard-throwing righty loaded the bases on two walks and a hit batter, but this time, he came out unscathed.

"That's the difference between being able to make pitches and … being able to come back out the last two innings, and not focus on the mound but focus on the hitter," Greene said.

Greene finished the fourth inning at 98 pitches, and at that point, Buck Farmer was getting loose in Cincinnati's bullpen. But when the bottom of the fifth rolled around, Farmer had sat down and Greene was headed back out to the mound.

"At that point, Hunter felt great," Bell said. "And it was real, he really felt strong."

Greene then proceeded to fire a 1-2-3 frame, his first since retiring the side in quick succession in the first inning -- though he got a big assist from his batterymate. A's left fielder Conner Capel drew a one-out walk, but he was cut down on the basepaths by backstop Luke Maile, whose solo homer represented the sole Reds run up to that point.

Unlike Friday night, when Cincinnati romped en route to an 11-7 win in the opener, the Reds had to fight for every inch of Saturday's win. Fraley termed the team's next-man-up mentality an "X factor" that has been a driving force in Cincinnati's extended stay in the win column.

"I don't think we're ever out of it," Fraley said. "We just kept our heads down and knew that if we were going to be given the chance to be able to put ourselves in the lead, or at least tie it -- I think that every single person in this clubhouse believed that we could get the job done."