Cincinnati Reds’ Spencer Steer, left, fields the ball as Chicago Cubs’ Nico Hoerner steals second base during the second inning of a baseball game in Cincinnati, Friday.
CINCINNATI (AP) — The Cincinnati Reds lost 100 games for the first time in four decades, falling to the Cubs 15-2 in their season finale on Wednesday as David Bote drove in a season-high five runs.
Cincinnati finished 62-100, one shy of the franchise record for losses set by the 1982 team that went 61-101. The Reds became the record-tying fourth team to lose 100 games this season, even for the bottom of the NL Central with Pittsburgh after just missing post-season play with an 83-79 record last season.
Similarly rebuilding Chicago finished 74-88 and third in the NL Central, up from 71-91 and fourth last season.
The crowd of 12,437 boosted the Reds’ attendance to 1,387,947 in 79 dates at Great American Ball Park, down from the 1,775,396 in 79 dates in 2019, which didn’t include two “home” games in Mexico.
This season’s attendance is Cincinnati’s lowest in a full season since the 1984 team drew 1,275,887 to Riverfront Stadium and doesn’t include the 7,823 fans who attended the Aug. 11 Field of Dreams game in Dyersville, Iowa, when the Reds were the home team.
Bote hit a three-run homer before Chicago broke the game open with a six-run sixth capped by Zach McKinstry’s three-run home run.
Adbert Alzolay (2-1), the first of five relievers who took over for the injured Adrian Sampson, pitched 2 1/3 scoreless innings to get the win.
Rookie right-hander Graham Ashcraft (5-6) set a season high with five walks while slipping to 0-4 against the Cubs this season. The rookie went 0-4 with two blown saves over his last six starts.
MARINERS 5, TIGERs 4
SEATTLE (AP) — Julio Rodríguez has shined on every stage during his spectacular rookie season.
The next will be the brightest the 21-year-old has faced to date: the playoffs.
“We deserve being the spot we are. And we are a really good team. I know we are really good team. And we got the stuff to compete against anybody,” Rodríguez said. “I’ve been saying that throughout the season. I truly believed in the talent we have here.”
Rodríguez put a final exclamation point on his Rookie of the Year candidacy with his 28th home run. Ty France hit a game-ending single and the Seattle Mariners capped the regular season with a 5-4 win over the Detroit Tigers on Wednesday.
Rodríguez set a franchise record with his sixth leadoff homer this season and finished off his rookie campaign hitting .284 with 25 doubles, 75 RBIs and 25 stolen bases.
His home run also topped Alvin Davis — the 1984 AL Rookie of the Year — for most homers by a rookie in Mariners history.
“What else you can say about Julio? He’s a generational type player,” Seattle manager Scott Servais said. “And fortunately for us, he’s going to have a Mariners uniform on for a long, long time.”
Mitch Haniger added a two-run homer and Luis Torrens — the winning pitcher in the first game of Tuesday’s doubleheader — hit a two-run homer in the sixth inning that gave the Mariners a 4-3 lead.
Seattle won it in the ninth after Gregory Soto (2-11) walked Curt Casali and his throwing error on J.P. Crawford’s grounder moved Casali into scoring position. Jarred Kelenic walked and France chopped a single down the right-field line.
Seattle (90-72) finished with at least 90 wins in consecutive seasons for the first time since 2000-03 when the Mariners won 91, 116, 93 and 93. The next stop for the Mariners is the AL wild card series in Toronto beginning Friday.
“This whole homestand was really important,” France said. “Not only just the clinching aspect, but we wanted to have momentum going into the playoffs.”
Detroit finished 66-96, but was 11-5 over the final 16 games.
“There is a lot of fight in this organization. There’s a lot of work to be done,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “You may not hear a ton from us about it in the coming week and coming months but by the time we get back to (spring training) we’re going to be on the right track.”
Seattle starter Marco Gonzales wore the brunt of trying to save as much of Seattle’s bullpen as possible for the upcoming matchup with Toronto. Not part of the roster for the wild card series, Gonzales went seven innings and threw 106 pitches, allowing eight hits and struck out five. Riley Greene’s two-out RBI single in the seventh pulled Detroit even and cost Gonzales a chance at his 11th win.
Paul Sewald struck out the side in the eighth and Erik Swanson (3-2) struck out a pair in the ninth.
“That was a huge role for them to put on me and I embraced it,” Gonzales said.
Tyler Alexander threw 5 2/3 innings and allowed seven hits and four runs for the Tigers.
