Lee’s 3 RBIs complete late rally to beat Reds

CINCINNATI — The Reds’ bullpen squandered another early lead, leading to an 8-3 Mariners win at Great American Ball Park on Friday night. Cincinnati had a 3-0 lead before Seattle scored eight unanswered runs — seven of them coming against relievers in the final three innings.

After escaping some trouble and throwing nearly 50 pitches in his first two innings, Reds starter Dan Straily settled down, allowing one run on two hits — both courtesy of Kyle Seager, who went 2-for-4 with an RBI — over his final four innings. However, the early trouble left him at 110 pitches after six, meaning he had to hand the game over to the troubled ‘pen for the seventh.

Blake Wood took over and faced four batters without recording an out. He loaded the bases and walked in a run before Tony Cingrani took over. Cingrani hit Robinson Cano with his first pitch and gave up a two-out, two-run go-ahead single to pinch-hitter Dae-Ho Lee, giving the Mariners a four-run rally on just three hits.

Seattle was anchored by a quality start from Hisashi Iwakuma, who went six innings and gave up three runs on six hits with six strikeouts, and then a shutout performance from the bullpen. The Mariners picked up a pair of late insurance runs in the ninth inning on a pair of solo home runs by Nelson Cruz and Lee against Jumbo Diaz.

MOMENTS THAT MATTEREDBuckling down: Iwakuma and the Mariners were trailing 3-0 in the fourth inning with the Reds threatening for more runs, but Iwakuma was able to strand the bases loaded. After retiring Jay Bruce to begin the inning, Iwakuma walked Eugenio Suarez and then gave up back-to-back singles to Adam Duvall and Tucker …

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