Instant Reaction: Graham Ashcraft Blows Save, Cincinnati Reds Fall to Braves 5-4

The Cincinnati Reds (19-20) fell to the Atlanta Braves (18-19) 5-4 on Thursday night at Truist Park.

Here are our postgame takeaways:

Lodolo's Strong Outing

In a game where the Reds really needed Nick Lodolo to go deep into the ballgame to give the bullpen a rest, he threw six strong innings.

The left-hander gave up just two runs on five hits. He didn't walk a batter and struck out seven.

10 Hits, Tons of Missed Opportunities

The Reds had 10 hits, but only managed to score four runs as they were 3-for-15 with runners in scoring position.

After Jose Trevino tied the game at one with a one-out double in the fifth, Rece Hinds struck out and TJ Friedl lined out to leave runners on second and third.

In the sixth, Specer Steer came to the plate with runners on first and third with one out, but grounded into an inning ending double play.

TJ Friedl singled home Blake Dunn with the bases loaded and one out to tie the game at two in the seventh. Matt McLain and Elly De La Cruz both struck out swinging to leave the bases loaded.

In the ninth, Rece Hinds hit his first home run of the season to give Cincinnati a 4-2 lead.

The Reds failed to score the ghost runner on second in the 10th or 11th innings.

Blown Save

After Lyon Richardson followed Lodolo strong outing with two scoreless innings of his own, Terry Francona went to Graham Ashcraft to try to nail down the save.

Ashcraft walked Ozzie Albies to lead off the inning. Next, Sean Murphy ripped a line drive to right field and Rece Hinds misplayed the ball, which resulted in runners on first and third and no outs.

Eli White followed with a successful squeeze play to get the Braves within one and Michael Harris would follow with an RBI single that would send the game to extras.

After Luis Mey kept the Braves scoreless in the 10th, Drake Baldwin hit a walk-off single off of Taylor Rogers in the 11th to secure the series win for Atlanta.

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