Grass ID can be extremely difficult when not in person, since it helps to examine the ligules and oracles near the end of the blade that connects to the stalk. Our best guess is Poa trivialis or Roughstalk Bluegrass. We haven't seen the stems that purple/red before but they can get a darker color like that. You can compare some photos on our page to what you have. 

Either way though, it is most likely a cool season grass since it is high now. If you wanted to maintain its spread the only way to do that is to either hand dig it or use a systemic herbicide. You can carefully spot treat with a non-selective chemical like glyphosate, but this will also kill the desirable turf grass so you would have to be careful of drift. Other herbicides that say they can be used on lawns most likely wouldn't work because this is also a grass. 

Emily

Hi, Emily.  Thanks so much for your response. If I too some close ups of the ligules and blades would you take a look? I’ve had poa trivialis and annua in the past. Several Fall applications of Barricade seem to have greatly reduce annua. Trivialis seems to have a more slender and finer blade in my yard. Also I’ve had success killing trivialis with several applications of Tenacity in the past. The image I sent that grass has much coarser blades and can appear singly on the yard. Even very dry area where I’ve not encountered trivialis that way. 

Hello Brad,

Yes, photos of the ligules, auricles (if present), sheath, vernation (is the leaf folded or rolled in the bud?), and other features all help to narrow-down ID. We're happy to take a look at additional close-up photos. It sounds like you are familiar with grass ID traits, but in case not, you can refer to the linked pages for examples and illustrations of each:

• Weedy Grass Identification - Ohio State
• Cool-season Turfgrass Identification - Penn State

Miri

Miri,

Miri,

Hello Brad,

Thank you for the additional photos. Unfortunately the file sizes are small and we can't enlarge them to see much detail. If the final photo shows an inflorescence, it doesn't look fully developed and probably is not diagnostic enough in this stage of growth. The vernation looks rolled to us, but we can take another look if you have versions of the photo files that are a minimum of 1MB in size. The ligule (if this grass has one) is hidden behind the collar region and sheath, so we can't see it from that angle (photo named "auricle," which looks like an auricle is absent, which is common to many grass species). Since the ligule on Poa trivialis is fairly large and prominent, unless it happens to be flush with the back of the stem in the photos, this grass might be another species since we can't see a large ligule.

Do you have larger photo files to share? We can take another look and see if the grass is listed in resources like Virginia Tech's grassy weed ID database.

Miri

Hi, Miri