Rus Livingood
July 27, 2013 – Reds @ Dodgers – 9:10pm – Fox Sports Cincinnati
Reds Record (59 – 45)
Away Record (27 – 28)
Dodgers Record (54 – 48)
Home Record (28 – 24)
Starters: Ryu (8 –3) vs. Arroyo (9 – 7)
The Setting: I am the proudest man in the world right now. Without boring you to pieces, I’ll sum it up to say that I was given a national award that is only given to up 10 alumni or less across the nation from my fraternity. The chapter that I advise also won the award for the best chapter in the nation, which made the night even better. These awards were the culmination of years of hard work, and I am humbled by the awards banquet tonight. Both awards were a surprise, and there are lots of alums in town tonight to celebrate with, including my dad. Oh, and late in the night, I am going to watch the Reds game via DVR.
The Game and Analysis:
•The offense sputtered again for the Reds, as they scored a lone run for the second straight game against the Dodgers. The Dodgers scored enough, picking up the 4 – 1 victory to spoil my great night.
•The Dodgers put the first run on the board in the bottom of the first. Yasiel Puig was on first base via a walk when Hanley Ramirez hit a two-out double to bring him home. Shin-Soo Choo made a strong throw into second, but Ramirez slid in safely. Andre Ethier would follow with a walk, but that would be all the Dodgers would get in the inning. It was 1 – 0 after the first.
•Jay Bruce led off the second inning with a home run to right field to tie the game at one run apiece. It was another homer off a lefty by Bruce, who has drastically improved his stats against southpaws this year. If I remember correctly, Bruce has the most homers by a lefty off a lefty in the majors this year and the last three seasons combined. I think I have that correct.
•The Reds came up with a nice double play in the second inning to erase a leadoff single by Juan Uribe. Mark Ellis hit a grounder that kicked off the mound but right at Brandon Phillips, who flipped the ball to Zack Cozart for the 4-6-3 double play.
•Chris Heisey tripled in the third with two outs, but Joey Votto was called out on strikes to end the inning and the Reds’ threat.
•The score would remain 1 – 1 until the bottom of the fifth, when the Dodgers would take the lead. Mark Ellis opened the inning with a single to center and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Hyun-Jin Ryu. Skip Schumaker then drove a long fly ball to center that just made it over the fence for a two-run homer and 3 – 1 Dodger lead. I say just over the fence, but the box score online had it at 422 feet. Whatever. Puig would then drop in a single to right field, and make a wide turn. Bruce fired the ball to first to get Puig as Devin Mesoraco covered first base. Puig has a habit of making those wide turns as we have already seen in this series. That play could have been very big as Adrian Gonzalez followed with a single before Ramirez grounded out to end the inning.
•Arroyo would leave with one out in the sixth inning following a single by A.J. Ellis. He gave up three runs on eight hits in 5.1 innings of work, throwing 94 pitches. As is typical with many of Arroyo’s starts, the Dodgers did not swing and miss often. For this game, that happened exactly twice according to the box score.
•Ryu was lifted for a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the seventh inning, ending a terrific day on the mound. He gave up only two hits, the homer by Bruce and the triple by Heisey. He struck out nine batters and only walked one, totally dominating the Reds. He sat down the final 13 batters he faced.
•The Dodgers would tack on another run in the bottom of the seventh. With one out, Schumaker doubled to left off reliever Alfredo Simon. After Puig flied out for the second out, Gonzalez singled Schumaker home. Gonzalez tried to take second on the throw home by Choo, but Mesoraco fired to Zack Cozart in time for the third out. It was 4 – 1 Dodgers after the seventh inning.
•The Reds were retired in order in the eighth and ninth innings, meaning the final 19 Reds were retired in order, and the Reds only had three base runners total for the entire game.
What Worked: Uh, Bruce hit a homer.
What Didn’t Work: The offense for the Reds was non-existent.
Where They Stand: The Reds are 49 – 46 and trail the Cardinals by 5.0 games and the Pirates by 3.5 games in the NL Central.
Overall Thoughts: The Reds wasted an opportunity to gain ground on the Cardinals with tonight’s loss. This offense has had plenty of games scoring only one run this year, and it baffles me when it happens. There were barely any scoring opportunities at all in this one, and had Bruce not belted a homer, it would have been much worse. Hopefully the club can regroup and end the series and road trip on a positive note, possibly gaining in the standings at the same time.
Up Next: Game four is tomorrow.
