Rus Livingood
August 3, 2013 – Cardinals @ Reds – 7:10pm – Fox Sports Cincinnati
Reds Record (60 – 50)
Home Record (32 – 18)
Cardinals Record (64 – 44)
Away Record (32 – 27)
Starters: Westbrook (7 – 5) vs. Cingrani (4 – 1)
The Setting: I am watching at home and hoping that there is not another massacre like yesterday.
The Game and Analysis:
•The game didn’t start off well for the Reds (or my sanity), but they would recover and go on to win 8 – 3. They had lots of offense and Tony Cingrani pitched well enough to allow for the bullpen to put in four stellar innings. All the glorious details are below.
•It was indeed a rocky start for Cingrani and the Reds. Jon Jay walked on seven pitches to start the game, and Carlos Beltran doubled him in for an early Cardinals lead. A wild pitch would send Beltran to third with no outs. I wondered if I should just go outside for a while and have my wife come and tell me if I should continue watching or not. Yesterday’s game was that rough. I stayed glued to the TV, though, and saw Cingrani strike out Allen Craig; walk Matt Holiday; strike out David Freese; and then get Daniel Descalso to fly out to Jay Bruce to end the inning. I was ecstatic that Cingrani only gave up the one run there. That could have been bad.
•The Reds would put together a good start of their own in the bottom of the first. After Shin-Soo Choo was called out on a very questionable strike, Chris Heisey singled and went to second on a passed ball. Joey Votto walked, and a Brandon Phillips groundout allowed both runners to move up to second and third. Bruce was intentionally walked, and Jack Hannahan singled to drive in Heisey and Votto for a 2 – 0 lead. Hannahan got the start at third today in place of Todd Frazier, who is mired in a 0 – 24 slump. Zack Cozart followed with a screaming liner to third, but it was right at Freese, who caught it for the final out of the inning. After one, it was 2 – 1 Reds.
•Neither team would mount much offense until the fourth inning, when Freese led off with a double. Descalso would bunt him to third. Cingrani got Rob Johnson to hit a lazy popup to Votto; intentionally walk Pete Kozma; and strike out Jake Westbrook as he tried a running bunt with two strikes and two outs. Yes, you read that right.
•In the bottom of the fourth, Cozart drew a two out walk, and Devin Mesoraco hammered a ball into the left field seats for a 4 – 1 Reds lead. Cingrani would ground out weakly for the final out of the inning.
•In the fifth inning, the Reds were able to tack on another run with two outs. Votto walked again and Phillips doubled him home. The ball Phillips hit nearly left the yard, and hit the wall about halfway up in right-center field. It was now 5 – 1 Reds. After a Bruce walk, Hannahan flew out to end the inning.
•Through the first five innings, Cingrani had given up two hits, four walks and the one run. He gave up a leadoff double to Holliday in the sixth; followed with a walk to Freese; and then a single to Descalso. Cingrani would be replaced by Alfredo Simon without recording an out in the sixth. Back-to-back RBI groundouts closed the gap to 5 – 3, but that would be all the Cardinals would get.
•In the bottom of the seventh, Cincinnati would start with the bases loaded and none out just as the the Cards had done an inning prior. Heisey was hit by a pitch; Votto singled to right; and Phillips was intentionally walked. Randy Choate was brought in to face Bruce, and he struck him out. Michael Blazek was then brought in to face the next two batters, getting pinch-hitter Derrick Robinson to fly out and Cozart to strike out swinging to get out of the jam.
•J.J. Hoover continued his amazing pitching streak, as he has not given up a run in his last 17 appearances (20.0 innings). He struck out Holliday and Freese and then got Descalso to ground out to Votto for an easy 1-2-3 inning. Hoover did run up the counts to the first two batters as he fell behind, but results are results.
•The Reds would pick up their final three runs in the bottom of the eighth. Mesoraco led off with his second homer of the game to put the score at 6 – 3. After a Frazier walk, Choo hit a two run shot to make it 8 – 3. That gave the Reds some cushion and ended up being the final score. The Reds would threaten further in the inning, but were unable to push any runs across.
•Aroldis Chapman came in to finish the game in a non-save situation. He induced a grounder to third for the first out and then struck out the final two batters on six pitches combined. Those last two innings were a major part of what was missing from the Reds a few years ago. Close games would be lost late in the game, and now the Reds have one of the best bullpens in the league. Oh, and “this one belongs to the Reds!”
What Worked: The Reds had plenty of offense in this one, and Cingrani kept the hot-hitting Cardinals at bay. The bullpen came up big for the Reds, especially in the last three innings, with saw the Cardinals retired in order. The two-out RBIs (5) were also a welcome sight.
What Didn’t Work: Cingrani is still having some issues with walks and high pitch counts. Strikeout pitchers, which he seems to uncharacteristically be, tend to have higher pitch counts by default, but the walk totals are increasing it further.
Where They Stand: The Reds are 61 – 50 and trail the Pirates by 5.5 games and the Cardinals by 4.0 games.
Overall Thoughts: I don’t think I could have taken another beat down or even another loss to the Cardinals with this game. Thankfully, the Reds came to play and gave me hope that they can make a run and get back to the top of the division. Time is starting to run out.
Up Next: The final game of the series is tomorrow.
