Aristides Aquino homers twice after Mike Minor's highlight double play in Reds win

CHICAGO – It was one of those moments, in the second inning Wednesday, where Mike Minor’s start could've taken a turn for the worse.

Minor permitted three consecutive singles and one run to begin the second inning. After striking out the No. 9 hitter in the Chicago Cubs’ lineup, Minor was tasked with escaping a jam against the top of the batting order with runners on the corners.

What came next changed everything about Minor’s start. Nick Madrigal hit a one-hop comebacker to the mound and Minor blindly reached his glove behind his back. The ball bounced into Minor’s glove, which took the 34-year-old lefty a moment to process, and it ignited an inning-ending double play.

"I surprised myself, honestly," Minor said after the Cincinnati Reds' 7-1 victory at Wrigley Field. "I got the ball, turned around and I didn’t really know where to throw it."

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Three pitches after Minor’s highlight double play, Aristides Aquino launched a hanging slider toward the stratosphere. Aquino’s solo homer, which left his bat at 113 mph, flew out of Wrigley Field and onto Waveland Avenue, nearly giving people watching from the rooftops a souvenir.

Cubs left fielder Ian Happ didn’t even move during Aquino’s game-tying homer, and most fans in the left-field bleachers from the crowd of 27,945 only turned their heads as the ball rocketed past them on its 438-foot flight. It was the hardest-hit ball by a Reds batter this season.

"I’ve been working hard," said Aquino, who has altered his stance. "I haven’t had a great year, but I’ve been working hard to finish strong. It means a lot."

Aquino homered again to left field in the top of the ninth inning, connecting on another hanging slider for a 390-foot solo blast. It was the third multihomer game of his career – all against the Cubs. He has 12 homers in 28 career games against the Cubs. He’s totaled 26 homers in 194 games versus the rest of the league.

As much as Aquino struggled to hit over the last three seasons, his homers are reminders about his potential if he can put together some consistency.

"It’s fun to see him go to the plate with confidence," Reds Manager David Bell said. "The harder he works, the more success he has, the more that confidence continues to build. That’s what we are focused on."

Minor gave up 10 singles and one walk in 5 2/3 innings, but only one run. He was the first MLB pitcher to allow at least 10 hits, one run or fewer and earn the win since Shane Bieber on June 17, 2018 vs. Minnesota. He benefitted from three double plays to eliminate traffic on the basepaths.

"When things aren’t going well, you don’t want to stray away from what you’re trying to do," Reds catcher Chuckie Robinson said. "He’s been doing it for a really long time. I think you just keep one step at a time, one step at a time, and finally hit his stride and started to execute some more pitches. Just filling (the strike zone) up and trusting the defense, honestly, because you can’t defend walks."

Said Bell: "That’s who Mike is. He knows how to pitch and it definitely showed up."

It was the first time Minor allowed fewer than two runs in a start this season. His offense rewarded him with a lead in the fourth inning when Jake Fraley powered an opposite-field, solo homer off Cubs starter Javier Assad. Fraley had seven homers in a span of 81 at-bats.

Minor, who started the season with a 1-10 record in his first 13 starts, is 3-0 in his last four outings.

"I felt like we kind of figured out how to attack guys with the stuff I have this year," Minor said. "Chuckie’s got here and Romine, those guys have done a hell of a job behind the plate. With the lack of stuff that I have, they’ve done really well with calling the pitches and trying to work through the lineups.”

The Reds hit around their batting order in the sixth inning, turning a one-run game into a rout via singles. Six consecutive batters reached base against three separate Cubs pitchers. Spencer Steer, batting with the bases loaded, hit an RBI infield single and an additional run scored when third baseman Christopher Morel threw the ball into the dugout for an error.

Donovan Solano continued the rally with a groundball RBI single through the right side of the infield and Aquino followed with a broken-bat RBI single to right field. It was Aquino’s second three-hit game in his last four starts.

"That’s the best," Aquino said, "because we usually say when you break your bat and it leads to an RBI, you say a hitter is feeling really good."

Aquino, undoubtedly, is feeling quite good. He's 8-for-16 in his last five games with three homers and seven runs driven in.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Reds beat Cubs: Aristides Aquino homers twice, Mike Minor double play