Emilio Pagán works scoreless 10th for save

Pagán was summoned in the top of the ninth to close out the game against the Brewers with a two-run lead. He struck out the first batter, then loaded the bases on a double, a walk, and a base hit. A pop-out held the runners before Pagán generated a flyout to end the game with his 21st save of the season.

Pagán surrendered a homer to Pete Crow-Armstrong in a three-run game on Sunday. Tonight, it was Fernando Tatis Jr. going deep in a two-run game. It’s the seventh homer Pagán has allowed in 34 1/3 innings this season, but he’s 20-for-23 saving games. He’s 13-for-13 since coming off the injured list a couple of months ago.

Pagán had a three-run lead to work with tonight. He did give up another long shot to Seiya Suzuki after PCA’s homer with two outs, but it was caught just in front of the ivy-covered wall at Wrigley. Pagan has a 2.33 ERA and is 12-for-12 saving games since coming off the injured list two months ago.

Pagan struck out Ian Happ in between flyouts from Alex Bregman and Nico Hoerner. His velocity was also strong again for a second straight outing after a mysterious drop last week, so it looks like nothing further will come of that. He has seven saves and one win in nine appearances this month. Fortunately, his one bad outing while his velocity was down came with a three-run lead; he gave up two runs but got the save anyway.

That makes 17 saves for Pagán this season. He missed time earlier in the year but regained Cincinnati’s locked-in closer role upon returning. He’s allowed just three earned runs in 15 innings since the All-Star break.

Pagán allowed a two-run homer to Jordan Walker before ending the comeback attempt. It marked the first runs he’s given up since July 19 as the veteran reliever has performed admirably since returning from injury. The Reds’ offense could limit save chances down the stretch, but Pagán remains Terry Francona’s go-to option in the ninth.

Pagán needed 11 pitches to get through the frame, with his last out coming on a fly-out by Otto Lopez. Pagán has now converted on nine straight save opportunities and hasn’t blown a save since May 4th.

So ends the two-hour rein of the closer-by-committee in Cincinnati. Pagán got his hand scanned and it apparently checked out okay. He’ll be back in the saddle tonight against the Marlins.

Pagán headed for a medical evaluation on his sore pitching hand. “We’re gonna get him looked at. If he checks out, good. But I just wanna make sure he’s OK,” manager Terry Francona said. Tejay Antone and Brock Burke look like a short-term closer committee for the Reds while this gets figured out.

He allowed a leadoff walk and Colson Montgomery was about five feet short of a game-tying homer before Edgar Quero hit an RBI single. Sam Antonacci hit a sharp line drive right up the middle that Elly De La Cruz was able to spear down to finish off the game. Garcia appearing here was a bit of an eyecatcher with Emilio Pagán having not pitched yesterday, so we’ll keep an eye out for quotes about this but Pagán has already been on the injured list for a lot of this season, has pitched just once in eight days, and may be being used judiciously even if he is healthy.