dane myers did not just end the game—he reframed it. In the bottom of the 11th at Great American Ball Park, a single to left brought designated runner TJ Friedl home and sealed a 6-5 Cincinnati win over Boston on Saturday, delivering the Reds’ first victory of 2026. The hit was described as Myers’ first hit and RBI as a member of the Reds, and it arrived after a night defined by early scoring, late bullpen stress, and repeated technology-driven strike zone disputes that changed the emotional temperature of the game.
Dane Myers delivers the finish, but the game’s tension was built earlier
The decisive sequence was simple: dane myers lined a game-winning single in the 11th, scoring TJ Friedl and ending a see-saw contest. Yet the outcome sat on top of multiple pressure layers that developed long before extra innings.
Cincinnati struck first and fast. Boston starter Sonny Gray labored through the opening inning, needing 35 pitches while surrendering two runs. By the end of three innings, the Reds held a 4-1 lead. Gray’s final line in his Red Sox debut—four runs allowed (three earned) across four innings, with one walk and five strikeouts on 80 pitches—captured the shakiness in the early portion of the game and the opportunity Cincinnati seized.
Key Cincinnati contributions established that early cushion. Matt McLain’s RBI double pushed the score to 3-0 in the second, and McLain finished 3-for-4. Sal Stewart homered on Gray’s first pitch of the third and later added an RBI single and a walk in the same game. Elly De La Cruz added a solo home run in the fifth on the first pitch he saw from Greg Weissert. Even with that production, the game still required a final swing in the 11th—an indication that the bigger story was how a lead became fragile.
Three underlying drivers: bullpen volatility, ABS challenges, and Boston’s late swing
1) The lead didn’t hold because the middle innings tilted. Reds starter Brady Singer worked four innings and allowed three runs on five hits. His season debut came after he left his final spring training start with a blister on his right index finger; he indicated no issues in this outing. Still, Boston’s scoring in the middle innings trimmed the margin and forced Cincinnati into a bullpen-heavy path.
2) The ninth inning exposed how one pitch can reset an entire night. Boston outfielder Wilyer Abreu hit a solo home run with two outs in the ninth off Reds closer Emilio Pagán to tie the score at 5. That blast didn’t just force extras; it erased the Reds’ earlier advantages and widened the game into a test of depth and composure. Pagán’s appearance followed an earlier sequence in which he entered to escape a jam created by Tony Santillan, then returned for another inning. In a one-run environment, that workload and sequencing mattered because it left less margin for error.
3) The ABS challenge system became part of the contest’s rhythm. The game featured eight ABS challenges and six overturned calls. Cincinnati used the system efficiently, going 5-for-5. Boston used both of its ABS challenges by the end of the third inning, and later faced moments with no challenge available. The strike zone dynamic escalated into a flashpoint: in the fourth, Trevor Story was called out on strikes on a pitch outside the zone with a runner at second. In the eighth, after another disputed call involving Story—this time on a check swing—manager Alex Cora was ejected for arguing. CB Bucknor worked as the home plate umpire.
The ABS-heavy environment is not merely trivia. It functioned as a second scoreboard—one that shaped at-bats, heightened frustration, and influenced dugout decision-making once Boston ran out of challenges early. Cincinnati’s perfect challenge record, combined with Boston’s depleted options, became a subtle competitive edge inside an otherwise evenly matched late game.
Dane Myers stands out in a game of firsts—and the next matchup is already set
In the box score, the walk-off will always be the headline. In context, it was also a personal milestone. The winning swing delivered a first hit and first RBI for dane myers as a member of the Reds, and it ended the game instantly. Separately, the hit represented Myers’ third career game-ending hit. The winning pitcher was Connor Phillips, and the losing pitcher was Justin Slaten.
Saturday also marked early-season markers for Cincinnati’s lineup: De La Cruz and Stewart each logged solo home runs as the Reds’ first round-trippers of the season. With McLain producing a three-hit game and reaching base repeatedly, Cincinnati showed it could build scoring opportunities in multiple ways—extra-base damage, situational hitting, and pressure on pitching early in counts.
Looking forward, the teams are set for a Sunday series finale at 1: 40 PM ET, with Reds right-hander Rhett Lowder scheduled to face Red Sox left-hander Connelly Early. The pitching matchup creates a natural question about lineup choices, especially with Boston starting a left-hander and Cincinnati coming off an 11-inning game that taxed relievers. The prior game’s tension points—late relief usage and the strike-zone chess match created by ABS—could continue to shape strategy.
The final takeaway is not just that dane myers ended it, but how the path to that moment revealed Cincinnati’s early-season profile: explosive spurts, vulnerability to a single late mistake, and a willingness to lean into the ABS challenge process as a competitive tool. After a win that required 11 innings and multiple momentum swings, can the Reds turn this kind of adrenaline victory into something steadier—before the next close game demands another last-swing rescue from dane myers?
