Frankie Montas flirts with no-hitter as Reds rough up Rockies

Frankie Montas took a no-hitter into the seventh inning, Elly De La Cruz homered and the Cincinnati Reds beat the Colorado Rockies 4-1 in Denver on Tuesday night.

Montas (3-4) struck out a season-high nine and walked two. He had his no-hitter broken up by Elias Diaz's leadoff double in the bottom of the seventh but retired the next three batters in order to wrap up his longest outing of the season.

It was the second-longest no-hit bid of Montas' career. He didn't allow a hit for 7 2/3 innings against the Seattle Mariners on June 23, 2022, when he pitched for the Oakland Athletics.

Stuart Fairchild, Tyler Stephenson and Spencer Steer had two hits apiece for Cincinnati, which has won three in a row. The Reds finished with 12 hits a night after collecting a season-best 18 in another win over the Rockies.

Diaz finished with two hits and Brendan Rodgers had an RBI double in the ninth for Colorado, which has dropped four in a row.

Cincinnati went ahead against Rockies starter Ty Blach in the first on an RBI double by Steer. De La Cruz gave the Reds a 2-0 lead with a solo homer in the third, his 10th home run of the season.

The Reds doubled their lead in the fourth. Stephenson doubled, Jonathan India was hit by a pitch and Stephenson went to third on Blake Dunn's fielder's-choice grounder. Luke Maile and Fairchild hit consecutive two-out RBI singles to give Montas plenty to work with.

Blach (2-3) allowed four runs on 10 hits in five innings. He didn't walk anyone and fanned two.

Montas retired the first 11 batters he faced before walking Ryan McMahon with two outs in the fourth. He struck out Diaz to end the inning and then fanned the first two batters of the fifth before running into a jam.

Jeimer Candelario committed a double error on Brenton Doyle's grounder to third, and Jake Cave walked before Montas retired Hunter Goodman on a flyout to escape the inning unscathed.

Montas cruised through the sixth before Diaz broke up the no-hitter with the first of his two hits.

--Field Level Media