Reds’ Nathaniel Lowe walks off Tigers with 2-run moon shot

Story by

Abdullah Imran, ClutchPoints

Sat, Apr 25, 2026 ·

2 min read

Reds’ Nathaniel Lowe walks off Tigers with 2-run moon shot appeared first on ClutchPoints . Add ClutchPoints as a Preferred Source by clicking here .

The Cincinnati Reds rallied from a five-run deficit to defeat the Detroit Tigers 9-8 on a two-out, two-run walk-off homer by Nathaniel Lowe on Friday night.

In the ninth, down to their final strike, Spencer Steer singled off closer Kenley Jansen , who entered with a 1.35 ERA and six saves in seven chances. Lowe, who was not in the original lineup and replaced Eugenio Suarez due to injury, then drove an 0-1 pitch into right-center field for his second homer of the game and his third career walk-off homer to give the Reds their second walk-off win of the season. The 30-year-old became the first Cincinnati player since 2018 to record a multi-homer game that included a walk-off blast.

The Reds trailed 5-0 after four innings as starter Andrew Abbott allowed five runs on six hits, including home runs by Riley Greene and Javier Baez , along with run-scoring hits from Matt Vierling and Jahmai Jones . Abbott has now failed to complete five innings in three straight starts and owns an 8.34 ERA across five April outings.

The comeback began in the fifth inning when Matt McLain hit a two-run home run off Framber Valdez . Lowe followed with a 438-foot homer off Kyle Finnegan , cutting the deficit to 5-3. A rain delay lasting one hour and 49 minutes paused play in the seventh, but Cincinnati carried its momentum through the break.

After the delay, McLain connected on another two-run shot off Will Vest to tie the game 5-5, his first career multi-homer performance after entering with a .200 average and no home runs. Elly De La Cruz later scored the go-ahead run on Baez’s throwing error, and Tyler Stephenson followed with an RBI double to make it 7-5.

Detroit responded in the eighth against Tony Santillan , who had been scoreless over 10 2/3 innings entering the game. Spencer Torkelson hit a solo homer before Kerry Carpenter launched a two-run shot to put the Tigers ahead 8-7.

With the win, the Reds improved to 17-9, winning six of their last seven and eight of their last 10 games while completing their first comeback from five runs down since August 2024.