Rus Livingood
August 9, 2013 – Padres @ Reds – 7:10pm – Fox Sports Cincinnati
Reds Record (63 – 51)
Home Record (35 – 19)
Padres Record (52 – 62)
Away Record (21 – 35)
Starters: Cashner (8 –5) vs. Arroyo (9 – 9)
The Setting: Watching at home with the family in my recliner.
The Game and Analysis:
•The Reds put runs on the board early and added more later. All the Padres could manage was a pair of solo home runs as the Reds and Bronson Arroyo cruised to a 7 – 2 win to start this series.
•Arroyo retired the Padres in order in the top of the first, and the Reds shot out of the gate in the bottom of the inning. After Shin-Soo Choo flied out, Todd Frazier doubled to end an agonizing 0 – 31 slump. Joey Votto followed with a single to right to bring in Frazier, and then Brandon Phillips singled to put runners on first and second with one out. Jay Bruce would fly out deep enough to allow both runners to tag up, but Chris Heisey ended the inning with a flyout. The Reds were on the board with a 1 – 0 lead, though.
•In the bottom of the third, the Reds would get on the board again. Frazier walked to start the inning, and scored on Votto’s triple in the next at bat. Votto just missed hitting that one out of the park, and even though it was toward the end of the bat, he hit the bottom of the wall in the right field gap. After a Phillips line out to second, Bruce drove in Votto with a standup double. That would be all the Reds would get in the inning. It was 3 – 0 Reds after three innings.
•Arroyo retired his first 11 batters and was throwing lots of strikes. He had given up only a single to Chase Headley in the fourth inning, and was looking like he was going to have one of his days on the mound where hits and runs would be scarce. With two outs in the fifth, Logan Forsythe connected for a solo homer for the Brewers’ first score, and then Arroyo hit the next batter, Nick Hundley. Arroyo would recover and strike out Brewers pitcher Andrew Cashner to end the inning.
•The Reds would immediately answer in the bottom of the fifth. Votto led off with a walk, and then Cashner retired the next two batters. Heisey hit a ball to the gap that Will Venable bobbled, allowing Votto to score and Heisey to make it to second. Forsythe had a throwing error on Zack Cozart’s grounder, allowing Heisey to score and Cozart to reach second. An intentional walk to Ryan Hanigan brought Arroyo to the plate, and he lined out to end the inning. That would be all for Cashner on the day as the Reds led 5 – 1.
•The Reds tacked on two more runs on a homer by Phillips in the sixth. Phillips’ blast also scored Frazier, who had reached on an infield single. It was 7 – 1 Reds after six innings.
•Arroyo’s final line was 7.0 innings, 4 hits, 0 walks, 1 run, and 7 strikeouts on 97 pitches. Alfredo Simon came in for the eighth inning and gave up a solo shot to Venable to make the score 7 – 2, which ended up being the final tally.
What Worked: Arroyo pitched a dandy of a game and the Reds got plenty of offense to back him up. The Reds got some cushion from a couple of muffed plays by the Padres in the fifth inning, but Phillips’ homer sealed the deal.
What Didn’t Work: if you want to be picky, you can complain about Simon giving up a home run out of the bullpen.
Where They Stand: The Reds are 64 – 51 and trail the Pirates by 6.0 games and the Cardinals by 2.5 games in the NL Central.
Overall Thoughts: That’s three in a row for the Redlegs, and four of the last five. Hopefully this series will be a sweep and see the bats come to life. The time is now to make a move in the Central.
Up Next: Game two of this three game series is tomorrow.
