Great Lakes bracket: 2019 Reds defeat 1973 Reds in six games

Game One: 1973 Reds 2, 2019 Reds 0
WP: Billingham (1-0)
LP: Castillo (0-1)
Save: Carroll (1)

Game Two: 2019 Reds 6, 1973 Reds 2
WP: Gray (1-0)
LP: Norman (1-1)
HR: Senzel (1)

Game Three: 1973 Reds 8, 2019 Reds 4 (10 innings)
WP: Borbon (1-0)
LP: R Iglesias (0-1)
HR: Tolan (1), Morgan (2), Griffey (1), Aquino (2), Suarez (2), Winker (1)

Game Four: 2019 Reds 5, 1973 Reds 4 (11 innings)
WP: Garrett (1-0)
LP: Baney (0-1)
HR: Morgan (3), Bench (3), Farmer (1)

Game Five: 2019 Reds 2, 1973 Reds 1
WP: Castillo (1-1)
LP: Billingham (1-1)
Save: Lorenzen (1)
HR: Senzel (2)

Game Six: 2019 Reds 5, 1973 Reds 0
WP: Gray (2-0)
LP: Norman (1-2)

Luis Castillo and Sonny Grey combined to allow one run in 27.6 innings over four starts as the 2019 Reds upset the Big Red Machine.

Game One, played in Riverfront Stadium, went to the favored 1973 team. Jack Billingham scattered eight hits over 8.2 innings but kept the 2019 team off the scoreboard. Clay Carroll entered with two outs in the ninth to get the final out. Joe Morgan doubled and scored in the first inning on Johnny Bench's single, and Darrel Cheney scored the other run on Pete Rose's double in the seventh.

Grey took a no-hitter into the seventh inning of game two. Nick Stenzel homered and doubled, he and Eugenio Suarez each scored a pair of runs. The 1973 Reds didn't score until the ninth.

Game Three, in Great American Park, featured a series of pinch-hit heroics. Aristides Aquino hit a two-run homer in the first off Don Gullett, but the visitors evened the score in the third with doubles by Rose and Bench. Morgan and Suarez exchanged solo homers in the fifth and sixth innings respectively. Ken Griffey hit a pinch-hit homer in the top of the ninth; Jesse Winker hit a pinch-hit homer of his own in the bottom of the inning. But in the 10th Phil Gagliano came off the bench to deliver a pinch-hit triple. Bobby Tolan followed with a homer, and the 1973 Reds won by four.

The '73 squad jumped out in front early in Game Four, posted a 4-1 lead after the top of the third. But the home team scored single runs in four straight innings, and their bullpen -- David Hernandez, Robert Stephenson and Amir Garrett -- clamped down on the 1973 hitters for secen scoreless innings. In the bottom of the 11th, Nick Stenzel scored from second base on a two-base error by third baseman Cheney, and the series was even.

Castillo and Billlingham locked up in another pitchers duel in Game Five. Stenzel led off with a homer, and Yasiel Puig scored a second run with the aid of two wild pitches. Billingham and reliever Pedro Borbon didn't allow another run, but the only tally the 1973 team got came on a homer by Dave Concepcion in the eighth off Garrett. Michael Lorenzen retired all four men he faced for the save.

Gray was a little less effective in Game Six than he had been in Game Two. This time he allowed two hits, although he did work into the eighth inning. Jose Iglesias drove in two runs and scored one on three hits, and Phillip Ervin scored a pair of runs.

Player availability: No injuries, and with two days off the bullpen will be fully rested for Round Three

Projected rotation: Castillo-DeSclafani-Gray-???-(Castillo)-(DeSclafani)-(Gray)