“I don’t think I’ve been 100% since 1988,” Francona said before the Reds snapped a four-game skid with an 11-7 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers. “I feel good enough to be here. It’s not a good feeling, not being here.”The stomach issues had left the Reds without Francona, first-base coach Collin Cowgill and a number of players Friday when Cincinnati fell 3-2 to the Brewers. Bench coach Freddie Benavides filled in as manager after Francona stayed back at the team hotel.
While the Reds hadn’t said exactly which players were unavailable for Friday’s game, Francona identified one Saturday by saying that reserve outfielder Jacob Hurtubise probably was feeling the worst of anyone.
“Everybody’s here,” Francona said. “I think we’ve got some guys that probably feel like they got hit by a truck a little bit, kind of like I did, but we’re OK.”
Although the Reds weren’t missing any players due to illness on Saturday, Matt McLain was scratched from the starting lineup about 45 minutes before the first pitch due to tightness in his left hamstring.
“We might not play him tomorrow just to be probably a little bit like a worrywart,” Francona said after Saturday’s game. “I want him to be able to play and not try to have to go 85 or 90%. I don’t think that’s fair to him. He’s willing to do it. I don’t think that’s right. So we might stay away from him tomorrow again. We’ll see.”
Francona was happy to watch a game in person after having all kinds of trouble tuning in to the action Friday. Francona listened to a radio broadcast and got frustrated that the audio was so far behind the play-by-play action on apps.
“I listened on my phone and followed along because that was the only way I could get it,” Francona said. “I thought I had the baseball package on my phone, but it wasn’t letting me do it. I did the best I could.”
He probably didn’t like what he heard for much of the night.
The Reds went hitless for the first 6 2/3 innings but ended a 35-inning scoreless streak by getting two runs in the eighth. Cincinnati’s scoreless streak was its longest since 1946, when the Reds failed to produce a run for 37 consecutive innings.
