Surging Reds blank Cubs, move into tie for NL wild card spot

CINCINNATI (AP) — The surging Cincinnati Reds beat the Chicago Cubs 1-0 on Sunday and moved into a tie with the New York Mets for the final wild card spot in the National League.

The Reds have won a season-high five straight games and six of seven. The Mets lost to the Nationals earlier in the day.

Sunday's game was delayed one hour and 11 minutes by rain.

Matt McLain doubled and scored on Gavin Lux's two-out double to right, putting the Reds ahead 1-0 in the third.

Lux collected two of the Reds' five hits against Jameson Taillon (10-7) who pitched seven innings with no walks and four strikeouts.

Reds starter Andrew Abbott allowed five hits in 4 2/3 innings before the Reds turned to the bullpen. Nick Martinez (11-13) pitched 2 1/3 shutout innings. Graham Ashcraft allowed one hit in the eighth.

The Cubs had runners on first and second with two outs in the ninth against Tony Santillan who struck out Pete Crow-Armstrong for his 7th save of the season.

It's the second time in the four-game series that the Reds won by a 1-0 score. Hunter Greene pitched a complete-game shutout in Thursday's series opener.

The Cubs had runners on first and second with nobody out in the third, and first and third with one out in the fourth, but didn’t score against Abbott.

Since losing to the Mets on Sept. 5 to fall six games back in the wild card race, the Reds have gone 10-5 while the Mets have lost 11 of 15.

Cubs RHP Cade Horton (11-4, 2.66 ERA) will start Tuesday's series opener against the Mets.

Reds RHP Brady Singer (14-10, 3.86) will start Tuesday's series opener against the Pirates.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB

Chicago Cubs second base Nico Hoerner (2) attempts to tag Cincinnati Reds' Noelvi Marte (16) as he steals second base in the first inning of a baseball game Sunday, Sept. 21, 2025, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Michael Swensen)

Chicago Cubs' Seiya Suzuki (27) makes contact with a pitch in the first inning of a baseball game against the Cincinnati Reds, Sunday, Sept. 21, 2025, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Michael Swensen)

Chicago Cubs pitcher Jameson Taillon (50) delivers in the third inning of a baseball game against the Cincinnati Reds, Sunday, Sept. 21, 2025, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Michael Swensen)

Cincinnati Reds pitcher Andrew Abbott delivers in the third inning of a baseball game against the Chicago Cubs, Sunday, Sept. 21, 2025, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Michael Swensen)

ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE (AP) — President Donald Trump on Sunday told reporters that U.S. officials have determined that Ukraine did not target a residence belonging to Russian President Vladimir Putin in a drone attack last week, disputing Kremlin claims that Trump had initially greeted with deep concern.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov last week said Ukraine launched a wave of drones at Putin’s state residence in the northwestern Novgorod region that the Russian defense systems were able to defeat. Lavrov also criticized Kyiv for launching the attack at a moment of intensive negotiations to end the war.

The allegation came just a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had traveled to Florida for talks with Trump on the U.S. administration's still-evolving 20-point plan aimed at ending the war. Zelenskyy quickly denied the Kremlin allegation.

Trump said that “something happened nearby” Putin's residence but that Americans officials didn't find the Russian president's residence was targeted.

“I don’t believe that strike happened," Trump told reporters as he traveled back to Washington on Sunday after spending two weeks at his home in Florida. “We don't believe that happened, now that we've been able to check.”

Trump addressed the U.S. determination after European officials argued that the Russian claim was nothing more than an effort by Moscow to undermine the peace effort.

But Trump, at least initially, had appeared to take the Russian allegations at face value. He told reporters last Monday that Putin had also raised the matter during a phone he had with the Russian leader earlier that day. And Trump said he was “very angry” about the accusation.

By Wednesday, Trump appeared to be downplaying the Russian claim. He posted a link to a New York Post editorial on his social media platform that raised doubt about the Russian allegation. The editorial lambasted Putin for choosing "lies, hatred, and death” at a moment that Trump has claimed is “closer than ever before” to moving the two sides to a deal to end the war.

The U.S. president has struggled to fulfill a pledge to quickly end the war in Ukraine and has shown irritation with both Zelenskyy and Putin as he tried to mediate an end to a conflict he boasted on the campaign trail that he could end in one day.

Both Trump and Zelenskyy said last week they made progress in their talks at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort.

But Putin has shown little interest in ending the war until all of Russia's objectives are met, including winning control of all Ukrainian territory in the key industrial Donbas region and imposing severe restrictions on the size of Ukraine's post-war military and the type of weaponry it can possess.

Madhani reported from Washington.

President Donald Trump departs on Air Force One from Palm Beach International Airport, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)