CINCINNATI — A strong six innings from Frankie Montas and Nick Martini's pair of home runs were more than enough to allow the Cincinnati Reds to defeat the Washington Nationals 8-2 on Thursday afternoon at Great American Ballpark.
Montas, making his first-ever Opening Day start, tossed six scoreless innings and allowed just four hits. The right-hander limited base-running opportunities for Washington, giving up no walks and allowing just four hits.
The defense did its part, so it was the offense's turn to step up.
And that they did.
In the second inning, Jake Fraley got things going by beating out a grounder to third base and an infield single, then followed that up by stealing second. Spencer Steer drove Fraley home on a single into right field to give Cincinnati the early 1-0 lead.
Then Martini blasted a 2-1 pitch into the right field sun deck, giving the Reds a 3-0 lead.
Cincinnati added four more runs in the third inning, with three of those coming on another blast into the right field seats by Martini. That brought around Elly De La Cruz and Steer, who drove in Fraley with a double in the previous at-bat.
Martini then smashed a 2-1 pitch into the right field stands for a 2-run home run that gave the Reds a 3-0 lead. They put two more on before the inning was over, but Christian Encarnacion-Strand popped out to first in foul territory to leave them there.
The offense roughed up former Reds farmhand, Josiah Gray, who was making his first career Opening Day. His start didn't go quite as well as Montas, giving up seven runs on eight hits. He walked two and struck out six.
Gray, was a Reds second-round draft pick in 2018 and was apart of the Yasiel Puig trade in December of that year.
Montas finished off his masterful performance, by ending the sixth inning with a strikeout of another former Red, Jesse Winker.
Emilio Pagán came on in relief of Montas in the seventh, but didn't have the same success at his teamate. He allowed a 2-run homer to Eddie Rosario to end the shutout.
Cincinnati Moeller grad Brent Suter came in and struck out the side in his Reds debut and then worked a perfect ninth send the 44,030 fans home happy.
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