Rus Livingood
August 10, 2013 – Padres @ Reds – 7:10pm – Fox Sports Cincinnati
Reds Record (64 – 51)
Home Record (36 – 19)
Padres Record (52 – 63)
Away Record (21 – 36)
Starters: Ross (2 –5) vs. Cingrani (5 – 1)
The Setting: Is this a winning streak? I’m watching from home again.
The Game and Analysis:
•Well, the Reds’ winning streak stops at three as they booted the ball around on defense and couldn’t mount much offense against starter Tyson Ross and the Padres. Both teams had four hits each, but the Reds had a disastrous four-error game on their way to a 3 – 1 loss to the Padres.
•The Padres got a quick leg up in the top of the first inning when the Reds had some problems in the field. Chris Denorfia led off with a single, and then Will Venable hit a broken-bat blooper into left-center field that Xavier Paul let slip under his glove as he ran over to field it. Denorfia was attempting to go first-to-third on the play and he motored on around to score on the error by Paul. Venable would advance to second. The very next batter, Chase Headley, hit a routine grounder to backup third baseman Jack Hannahan. Hannahan checked Venable back to second, then threw wide to Joey Votto at first. Venable went to third and Headley went to second, but the ball rolled into the camera well, and Venable was sent home to make the score 2 – 0 with no outs. Hannahan was charged for a throwing error, but Votto could have come off the bag and got that ball. I think he thought he would make the stretch and get the out. Tony Cingrani would strike out the next two batters and get Jedd Gyorko to line out to center field for the final out. The damage was done, though, as the Padres had a 2 – 0 lead before the Reds would bat.
•For the Reds in the first, Shin-Soo Choo led off with a walk and stole second base. After Zack Cozart struck out, a Votto grounder allowed Choo to go to third. Gyorko made a great diving stop on the ball Votto hit, robbing him of a hit and an RBI. Brandon Phillips would make up for the missed RBI, however, with a two-out single to score Choo. Phillips was then caught stealing to end the inning, though, and it was 2 – 1 Padres after the first.
•For the next several innings, both teams would not have much going on offensively. If anyone did get on base, they were stranded or erased with double plays. Wild pitches by both Cingrani and Ross allowed runners in scoring position, but neither team could capitalize.
•Cingrani would be lifted for a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the fifth, and was replaced on the mound by Alfredo Simon in the top of the sixth. Both runs that were given up at that point were unearned, but he was at 92 pitches and the Reds needed to try and use every opportunity to score.
•In the seventh, Hannahan had his third error of the game, and the fourth overall for the Reds. It was a horrible day for the backup third baseman.
•The bottom of the seventh saw the Reds threaten after a leadoff walk by Jay Bruce and a single by Paul that put runners on the corners with no outs. Devin Mesoraco hit a fly ball to Denorfia in right field, and Bruce was help up as Denorfia was charging in and made a good throw home. Paul broke for second, but Alonso cut off the throw and easily relayed to second to get Paul for the unconventional double play. Logan Forsythe would make a good play up the middle on a grounder by Hannahan to get the third out and prevent the Reds from scoring.
•Venable hit a solo homer in the eighth inning, to push the score to 3 – 1. It was Venable’s second home run in as many days, and he has seemed to feast on the Reds this year.
•The Reds could not answer in the eighth or ninth innings, even with their big hitters at the plate. Ross had held them to four hits in the first seven innings, and they went hitless against the bullpen in the final two. Huston Street picked up his 22nd save on the year in a 1-2-3 ninth inning.
What Worked: The Reds only gave up the one earned run, Venable’s homer off Manny Parra in the eighth inning. The pitching kept the Reds in the game.
What Didn’t Work: The defense was bad, committing four errors in the game and allowing the Padres to get an early lead. The offense was sluggish rather than slugging, and there were a couple of outs on the base paths that held the Reds back.
Where They Stand: The Reds are 64 – 51 and trail the Pirates by 6.0 games and the Cardinals by 2.0 games in the NL Central.
Overall Thoughts: Needless to say, the fundamentals were lacking for the Reds in this game. They should be winning all of these games if they want to make a serious run and gain some ground. Sadly, this has been a theme for the club this year, as they have stretches of little to no offense and spoil great efforts by the pitching staff.
Up Next: The final game of the series is tomorrow.
