Reds Lose the Finale to the Angels, 9–6 — A Comeback So Late It Needed a Permission Slip

Alright Toss Boss Nation, the Reds wrapped up the Angels series by doing that classic magic trick: disappearing for the first seven innings, then reappearing in the eighth and ninth like “hey guys, what’d we miss?”

Final: Angels 9, Reds 6.

Series: Angels take it, 2–1.

And yes, it felt exactly like stepping on a LEGO in the dark.

The part where it went off the rails (immediately)

Andrew Abbott took the mound and the Angels came out swinging like they had our pitch calls on a group chat.

Top 1: singles everywhere, and boom—3–0 before you could even get comfortable.

Top 2: Trout doubles, more runs, and suddenly it’s 5–0 like we’re speedrunning misery.

Abbott’s line: 3.0 IP, 8 H, 7 ER, 1 K, 2 BB

That’s not “a rough one.” That’s “somebody check if his controller disconnected.”

The Angels kept tacking on, and by the top of the 8th it was 9–0. At that point I wasn’t watching a baseball game—I was watching a documentary called How It Got This Bad.

Meanwhile, Soriano turned into the final boss

Angels starter José Soriano was out there pitching like he was allergic to base runners:

7.0 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 10 K, 3 BB — and he’s now 4–0 with a 0.33 ERA.

0.33 isn’t an ERA. That’s a thermostat setting.

The Reds offense managed two hits off him, which is the baseball version of waving politely at a moving train.

The Reds finally woke up

Credit to the boys: they didn’t quit. They just waited until the game was basically in a “do you believe in miracles?” situation.

Bottom 8: Reds score 3, helped by wild pitches and an Angels error—aka the baseball gods briefly remembered we paid for tickets.

Bottom 9: Elly De La Cruz hits a three-run homer (his 5th) to make it 9–6, and for about 10 seconds the stadium felt alive again.

That homer was a missile. A statement. A “fine, I’ll do it myself” moment.

And then… that was it. The rally showed up late, ordered one drink, and got asked to leave.

Toss Boss takeaway

You can’t spot a team nine runs and then decide to play real baseball when the game’s already packing its bags. The fight was there. The timing was not.

Flush it. Learn from it. And for the love of all things holy, let’s try a first inning where we don’t immediately need therapy.

Up Next: Giants roll into town

No time to sulk—new series starts Tuesday, April 14 at 6:40 PM at Great American Ball Park.

San Francisco Giants (6–10, 3–3 away) vs Cincinnati Reds (9–7)

Probable pitchers

Giants: Robbie Ray (LHP) — 2–1, 2.08 ERA, 0.98 WHIP

Reds: Brady Singer (RHP) — 0–1, 7.71 ERA, 2.06 WHIP

So yeah… we’re getting “Robbie Ray: currently a problem” versus “Brady Singer: currently searching for the strike zone like it owes him money.”

Matchup predictor (ESPN)

Giants 52.6% / Reds 47.4%

Translation: “Giants slightly favored, but baseball is chaos and we all know it.”

Who to watch

Reds: Elly De La Cruz — 5 HR, .281 AVG, 10 RBI (the offense and the vibes)

Reds: Sal Stewart — .309 AVG, .435 OBP, .600 SLG (getting on base like it’s automatic)

Giants: Willy Adames — 2 HR, .258 AVG, 5 RBI

Giants: Luis Arraez — .304 AVG (day-to-day, expected Apr 14)

Giants: Matt Chapman — 7 RBI, .290 AVG

The key

Simple: don’t start the game in a crater. If Singer can give the Reds a normal start—just normal, not “legendary,” just “please don’t be 5–0 in the second”—this lineup has enough juice to make it a night.

New opponent. Fresh start. Same Toss Boss expectations: play nine innings, not two.