Looking back at Reds' longest winning streaks this century
Jun. 20—Eighty-four years ago, Si Burick wrote a Dayton Daily News column titled "Si-iings." He was the first of three Hall of Fame baseball writers to work at the paper. Ritter Collett and Hal McCoy followed.
In 1939, Burick saw a rare feat, something duplicated only once by the Reds over the years but something the 2023 team is chasing this week: a 12-game winning streak.
"I have always found statistics to be a tiresome pursuit," Burick wrote, "but Saturday after the Reds had succeeded in turning back the Cardinals for their 12th straight triumph, I found myself breaking a long-standing prejudice against fact-and-figure finding and making a laborious research into what had been going on since the victory string began."
Burick then reviewed each of the 12 victories. In that spirit, below is a look at that winning streak and eight others longer than the Reds' current streak, which they extended Monday with a 5-4 victory against the Colorado Rockies at Great American Ball Park.
The Reds built on a winning streak that began with eight victories on the road and made Joey Votto's first appearance of the 2023 season a memorable one. He hit a home run in his second at-bat and drove in the tying and go-ahead runs with a single in the sixth.
"There was a different energy just having Joey back," manager David Bell said in a postgame press conference, "but the energy of our team has been building from way back. Each day, that gets stronger; the connection gets stronger. The difference tonight was playing in our home ballpark. There was an energy in our ballpark. We don't want to let that go. We want to build on that. It was so appreciated."
The Reds had a 14-game streak in 1899 and a 13-game streak in 1890.
This is the 25th winning streak of nine games or longer since 1901 for the Reds and only the second in this century. Sixteen of those streaks ended at nine games.
12 GAMES
May 1939: The Reds were 1 1/2 games out of first place in the National League when the streak started and owned a two-game lead when it ended. They held onto first place the rest of the season. They beat the Boston Bees, Philadelphia Phillies, Brooklyn Dodgers and the St. Louis Cardinals during the streak. The last nine games in the run took place at Crosley Field.
Lee Grissom and Bucky Walters each won three games during the streak. This Reds team finished 97-57-2 and were swept by the New York Yankees in the World Series.
April-May 1957: The Reds, known as the Redlegs for a five-year stretch at this time, beat the Phillies, New York Giants, Pittsburgh Pirates, Dodgers and the Chicago Cubs during the streak. All the games took place on the road.
Veteran pitcher Warren Hacker won three games all season, all during this streak. The Reds were 5 1/2 games out of first place when the streak began and tied for first when it ended. They stayed in contention until late July but finished 80-74, placing fourth in the National League, 15 games behind the Milwaukee Braves.
10 games
August 1919: The Reds won five straight games, sweeping two doubleheaders, against the Phillies at the Baker Bowl at the end of the streak. They also won two games at Ebbets Field against the Dodgers and three games on the road against the Boston Braves.
The Reds finished 96-44 and beat the White Sox 5-3 in what was then a best-of-nine World Series. Eight members of the White Sox were later kicked out of baseball for throwing the World Series in a gambling scandal.
July 1939: The Reds started this streak with three straight victories at home against the Phillies and ended it with four road victories against the Phillies. In between, they beat the Boston Bees three straight times in Cincinnati. They stretched an eight-game lead in the league to 12 games and were 4 1/2 games up at the end. Paul Derringer, Whitey Moore, Gene Thompson and Walters all won two games during the streak.
September 1943: The Reds beat the Phillies, Braves and Giants in 10 games at Crosley Field. They had five shutouts during the streak, which did not help them make up much ground in the National League. They finished 87-67-1, placing second, 18 games back of a 105-win Cardinals team. Johnny Vander Meer made three starts and earned two victories during the streak.
July 1975: The Big Red Machine won three straight games against the San Diego Padres on the road and then seven in a row at home against the Phillies and New York Mets. The Reds turned a seven-game lead in the National League West Division into a 12 1/2 -game lead. Fred Norman and Clay Kirby each won two games during the streak. Rawly Eastwick had three saves.
The Reds finished 108-54 and beat the Boston Red Sox in seven games in the World Series. This Reds team, which set a franchise record for victories, also had a nine-game winning streak in August.
July 1998: The streak started withan 8-7 victory at Cinergy Field against the Twins. Eddie Taubensee drove in Lenny Harris for a walk-off victory.
The streak also included six victories against the Cardinals and three against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Brett Tomko and Gabe White each won two games during the streak.
The streak came during a stretch that saw the Reds win 15 of 16 games. That followed an 11-game losing streak.
The Reds were 17 games out of first place when the streak began and 10 1/2 back when it ended. They finished 77-85, 25 games behind the 102-win Astros.
June-July 1999: The Reds won their last nine games in June, starting the streak with seven straight victories on the road against the Diamondbacks and Astros and then sweeping a series at Cinergy Field against the Diamondbacks.
An RBI double by Mark Lewis in the bottom of the 10th in the final game of the streak led to a walk-off victory.
The Reds were 6 1/2 games out of first place when the streak began and owned a half-game lead when it ended. They finished 96-66 and lost a one-game playoff, 5-0 to the Mets at home.
July 2012: The last Reds team to win 10 games in a row was tied for first place when the streak began and had a three-game lead when it ended. They held onto first the rest of the way and finished 97-65. They lost a five-game division series to the San Francisco Giants after winning the first two games of the series on the road.
This streak included victories against the Diamondbacks, Brewers, Astros and Rockies. Bronson Arroyo, Johnny Cueto and Mat Latos all won two games during the streak.
Reds broadcaster Marty Brennaman had promised earlier in the season to shave his head if the Reds won 10 games in a row at any point that season and made good on the promise after a game on Aug. 3 while raising $20,000 for the Reds Community Fund.
WEDNESDAY'S GAME
Rockies at Reds, 12:35 p.m., Bally Sports Ohio, 700, 1410
