When it rains, it pours. The Cincinnati Reds entered Thursday’s game against the Chicago Cubs riding a six-game losing streak, including back-to-back walk-off losses.
Cincinnati catcher Tyler Stephenson made a highlight reel blunder that was a perfect encapsulation of the team’s recent struggles.
Stephenson thought there was a force play at home for an out, but there wasn’t. As a result, he stood by as Ian Happ crossed home plate, earning a run for Chicago, and not a much-needed out for Cincinnati.
I don’t even know what to say. This is inexcusable by Tyler Stephenson. This on top of all the baseball running mistakes these past couple days is taking years off my life. pic.twitter.com/2rnz4GqVBy
— CriticalReds (@CriticalReds) May 7, 2026
Chicago had the bases loaded with no outs. The Cubs had tallied one run at that point, and shortstop Dansby Swanson grounded to third base for a fielder’s choice. Cincinnati’s Ke’Bryan Hayes tagged third for an out and threw home to prevent a run from scoring.
Stephenson didn’t realize the situation on the base paths had changed and caught the ball while standing on home plate, stepped off and then gave props to Hayes for the good play.
The Reds’ catcher failed to realize that Hayes had taken out a force play at home, so Stephenson stood there and didn’t tag Ian Happ, just letting a run score mere inches from him.
The bottom of the fourth inning started with Cincinnati down just 1-0, but then starter Rhett Lowder left the game with “right shoulder soreness.”
The problems went from bad to worse as Stephenson’s mental lapse helped to open up the floodgates in the game. When the dust settled on the inning, Chicago went into the fifth up 8-0, inching closer to its ninth consecutive win.