Rus Livingood
July 24, 2013 – Reds @ Giants – 10:15pm – Fox Sports Cincinnati
Reds Record (57 – 44)
Away Record (25 – 27)
Giants Record (46 – 54)
Home Record (28 – 23)
Starters: Leake (9 – 4) vs. Gaudin (4 – 1)
The Setting: I am watching as much of this game as I can and will finish it tomorrow morning before work if I can’t stay up the whole time. Who needs sleep?
The Game and Analysis:
•After allowing the Giants to score nearly as many runs in the last game as they had against the Reds all year to that point, the Reds got back on track and dominated the defending World Series champs one more time. The Reds jumped out to an 8 – 1 lead on the way to an 8 – 3 victory to end the season series between the two clubs. Mike Leake held San Francisco at bay (no pun included) and got plenty of backup from the Reds offense.
•The Reds got off to a good start with a leadoff double by Shin-Soo Choo to start the game. One out later, with Choo on third, Joey Votto hit a sacrifice fly to leftfield for a 1 – 0 lead.
•In the third, the Reds used a series of two-out hits to pull away from the Giants. Votto singled to left; Brandon Phillips singled to rightfield and Hunter Pence let the ball get past him. It also got past the centerfielder Gregor Blanco, allowing Votto to come around and score (2 – 0) and let Phillips go to second; Jay Bruce followed with a double to right to score Phillips (3 – 0); after a Todd Frazier walk, Devin Mesoraco singled in Bruce to make the score 4 – 0. Cesar Izturis would ground out to end the inning.
•The Giants would pick up their lone run against Leake in their half of the third inning. Marco Scutaro singled to begin the inning and went to second on a ground out by Pablo Sandoval. Pence singled him in with a line drive to right. It was one of Pence’s five hits on the day, one of the few bright spots for the Giants on the day.
•The Reds would answer with two runs in the fourth as they sent eight men to the plate. Leake dropped in a single in the outfield to kick off the inning. Walks to Choo and Xavier Paul loaded the bases with no outs. Votto bounced into a force out that scored Leake as the Giants were only able to get one out. Brandon Phillips followed with a sacrifice fly to score Choo, and increase the Reds’ lead to 6 – 1. Bruce and Frazier would both walk to load the bases again. Gaudin had been pulled after the walk to Bruce, and reliever Jake Dunning was able to get Mesoraco out to end the threat.
•The Reds would tack on two more runs in the sixth on singles by Phillips and Mesoraco. Votto led off the inning with a triple to right and scored on Phillips’ hit. Phillips would score later in the inning on the single by Mesoraco. After six innings, the score was 8 – 1 Reds.
•Leake was getting the job done on both the mound and at the plate. He hit a ground-rule double in the fifth, one of his three hits on the day. This was the third three-hit game of Leake’s career. Even though the Giants got 12 hits and two walks off Leake, he held them to just the one run. In the seventh inning, Leake would give up two singles and a walk to load the bases with no outs, ending his day.
•Sam LeCure came in to relieve Leake and face the unenviable situation of three runners on with none out. LeCure struck out Jeff Francoeur swinging; got Buster Posey to ground into a force out when Votto threw home to get the out; and struck out Guillermo Quiroz to get out of the inning unscathed. What an inning for LeCure!
•Sandoval would drive in two runs in the eighth inning off Logan Ondrusek to bring the score to 8 – 3. Only one of the runs was earned as Frazier made an error at third prior to Sandoval’s hit. Ondrusek would labor through the inning, but ultimately get out with just the two runs scoring. That would end up the final score as the ninth inning was uneventful for either club.
What Worked: Leake worked his way out jams and kept the score low. The Reds pounced on their opportunities and came up with timely two-out hits. LeCure was amazing in his seventh inning stint.
What Didn’t Work: The Reds had two errors and Leake gave the Giants plenty of opportunities to push runs across.
Where They Stand: The Reds are 58 – 44 and trail the Cardinals by by 5.0 games and the Pirates by 3.5 games in the NL Central.
Overall Thoughts: I will take a 3 – 1 series on the road against the Giants. The Reds could have beaten them 100 – 0 in the four game set and it still wouldn’t take away the sting from the playoff implosion, but this was a great start to the West Coast road trip.
Up Next: The Reds travel to Los Angeles for a four game series with the Dodgers.
