PHOENIX — If these young Cincinnati Reds didn’t know how hot a playoff chase can get, it took just four days in Arizona to feel the heat.
With four days left before the calendar flips to the bona fide September stretch run, the Reds let another tight one slip away late against the wild-card rival Arizona Diamondbacks, who scored three times in a four-walk eighth inning to beat the Reds 5-2.
The Diamondbacks, who came within an 11th-inning balk Saturday of sweeping the Reds in the four-game series, also won in their final at-bat in the eighth in Thursday’s series opener.