Rus Livingood
June 12, 2013 – Reds @ Cubs – 2:20pm – Reds Gameday – Fox Sports Cincinnati
Reds Record (39 – 26)
Away Record (17 – 15)
Cubs Record (25 – 37)
Home Record (14– 20)
Starters: Leake (5 – 3) vs. Wood (5 – 4)
The Setting: I’ll be following along on the computer and the radio, then finish the game at home after work.
The Game and Analysis:
•Twelve straight wins at Wrigley? You betcha! Mike Leake and the Reds held the Cubs to three hits and got just enough offense to get the 2 – 1 victory.
•Leake put in a dominating performance, throwing 8.0 innings of three hit ball while walking one and striking out six. The only run he gave up came in the second inning when Nate Schierholtz hit a fly ball that just went over the fence in right field for a solo home run. Leake gave up only two singles in addition to the homer and a walk to pitcher Travis Wood. Over his last seven games, Leake is 5 – 1 with a 1.15 ERA. He is averaging 6.2 innings per start over that span, and has lowered his ERA from 4.32 to 2.64. As mentioned before, this is the number five starter for the Reds.
•Wood, the former Red, continues to put impressive numbers as a starter for the Cubs, though he has had little run support to back him up. His ERA on the year is 2.65, yet he is now 5 – 5. He gave up four hits in seven innings today, but the two runs he gave up were enough to take the loss. He has a very bright future with the Cubs, and I wish there would have been some way we could have kept him.
•The Reds got their first run on an RBI single from Mr. RBI Brandon Phillips in the sixth inning. Shin-Soo Choo had doubled with one out, and Phillips came through with the two out hit to drive in a crucial run. Phillips has been doing that seemingly all year. He remains near the top of the leader board in RBIs in the National League, and has been invaluable in the cleanup role this year. And in typical Brandon Phillips fashion, he made a tremendous diving stop and throw in the first inning; he is just the best second baseman in baseball with the glove.
•Todd Frazier brought home what would be the deciding run in the seventh inning with a solo homer. Frazier got “off the schneid” with his homer yesterday, and his hitting one today could signal that he is ready to start putting up some power numbers and run production again. On this swing today, Frazier nearly golfed the ball over the wall with what looked like one hand. Kids should never attempt to emulate that swing, but it works for Frazier.
•In an interesting development, Derrick Robinson was slotted into the leadoff position in place of Choo, who batted second in the order. As Choo has been struggling since his electric start, I had wondered about something like this. Choo has been an on base machine, though he is not nearly as high in average as he was early this season. That still works in the two hole, as long as your leadoff guy can get on base. Robinson has looked like a pretty good asset to this club so far, so it will be interesting to see if they experiment with this more often or look to do this permanently. When Xavier Paul or Donald Lutz is in left field rather than Robinson, this lineup will not work. Today, Robinson went 1 – 4 batting leadoff, and Choo went 1 – 3 and scored a crucial run.
•Aroldis Chapman nailed down the ninth inning on eight pitches, seven of them strikes. He picked up his 17th save and lowered his ERA to 2.17 overall. Only one pitch was hit, and it was a weak grounder to second by pinch hitter Alfonso Soriano on the only pitch he saw. Chapman definitely had it going today.
What Worked: This was just a tremendous performance by Leake as Wood was dealing for the Cubbies. Our bats found a way to give Leake enough support for the lead, and Chapman had no trouble closing it down.
What Didn’t Work: I was disappointed in my inability to watch the majority of the game. I listened to it on the radio, and followed along on the computer, but it is just not the same for me. I know some people prefer to enjoy the game via the radio call, but give me glorious high definition viewing any day. I was able to watch the last two innings for the most part.
Where They Stand: The Reds are 40 – 26 and are 2.5 games behind the Cardinals in the NL Central. They are 0.5 game ahead of the Pirates.
Overall Thoughts: Taking the first three games of this series have been huge for the Reds, as they have been able to recover a bit from the Cardinals series and the Rockies series before that. This was a heck of a pitchers’ duel, and the bats came through when needed.
Up Next: The Reds play another day game against the Cubs in the final game of the series tomorrow.
