Rus Livingood
May 28, 2013 – Indians @ Reds – 7:10pm – Fox Sports Cincinnati
Reds Record (32 – 19)
Home Record (19 – 7)
Indians Record (27 – 23)
Away Record (12 – 13)
Starters: McCallister (4 – 3) vs. Latos (4 – 0)
The Setting: Watching at home again. I had to take a ½ day vacation from work so I could take my dog to the vet. When I finished getting ready for work this morning, I went to take the dog out, which is our daily routine. The poor girl kept her head tilted to the left and kept wiggling her left ear. When I looked at it, she let out a yelp as I touched her ear. There was a lot of gunk and her entire inner ear was raw and bleeding. It smelled like death. The verdict from the vet was an ear infection from an unknown cause. She has plenty of medicine prescribed, and it cost me $179.50. But at least I know my girl is going to be okay, and she is lying at my feet to watch the Reds game this evening. Oh, and she is wearing her Reds collar that she has worn for years and years. That’s my girl.
The Game and Analysis:
•The game started with a bang for the Reds and then they could not capitalize on their opportunities. All of a sudden, that sudden Reds outburst that we have become familiar with turned the game into a no-doubter. The Reds would walk away with an 8 – 2 victory.
•Mat Latos might not have had his best stuff, but he held the Indians in check and only gave up one run in 6.1 innings. Latos walked four and two of those were the last two batters he faced as his last seven pitches were balls. He just seemed to run out of steam. No matter, though, he kept the Reds in a tremendous position to win the game when they were having trouble converting their opportunities to runs, and Latos did indeed walk away with the win. He is now 5 – 0 on the year, with a 3.01 ERA.
•The Reds jumped out to an early lead in the first inning. Shin-Soo Choo roped a ground-rule double to the gap to lead off, and then went to third on a bunt single by Zack Cozart. The bunt basically died in the grass, and the pitcher didn’t even make a throw to first. Joey Votto put the Reds on the board 1 – 0 with a single, and Cozart went to third on the play. A wild pitch saw Votto go to second, as he had a good lead at first and had moved toward second a little with the pitch. Great hustle by Votto to take second to put himself in scoring position and erase a double play possibility. It looked like Brandon Phillips was going to knock in a couple more, but his rocket shot up the middle was knocked down by the pitcher, and Phillips was out at first. After Jay Bruce struck out, Xavier Paul came through with a two out single to score Cozart and Votto, giving the Reds a 3 – 0 lead. Devin Mesoraco flew out to end the inning. That was a great way to start the game, as the Reds were hitting some hard balls off Zach McCallister.
•The Reds had multiple hits or base runners in most of their innings, yet failed to produce runs. Then in the seventh inning, they finally broke through with another big inning. They sent nine men to the plate:
1. Phillips reached on an infield hit.
2. Bruce struck out
3. Paul singled.
4. Mesoraco hit a ball that might have rolled 10 to 15 feet in front of home plate, and catcher Carlos Santana couldn’t pick it up. It looked Mesoraco was going to be safe at first no matter what, but Santana threw it anyway, and it sailed over the first baseman’s head. Phillips scored, to make it 4 – 1 Reds, and Paul and Mesoraco were now on third and second respectively.
5. Jack Hanahan singled in Paul (5 – 1) and Mesoraco went to third.
6. Pinch hitter Derrick Robinson singled in Mesoraco (6 – 1) and Hanahan went to second. Both runners moved up on a wild pitch.
7. Choo was hit by a pitch for the 14th time this year, easily the most in the majors. The bases were loaded with one out and three runs already in.
8. Cozart singled to left. Hanahan scored (7 – 1) and Robinson was nearly right on his back. The throw came up the line , and Robinson did not see Hanahan telling him to slide. Robinson was tagged out at the plate when he should have scored. As the games was turning into a blowout at that point, it was not a big deal.
9. Votto grounded out to end the inning.
•The Reds racked up 18 hits and went 7 – 22 with runners in scoring position. Every Reds position player got a hit, including pinch hitter Robinson in his only at bat. Bruce was hitless on the day until his final at bat where he hit an RBI double for the final score of the game (8 – 2). Seven Reds had multiple hits.
•When Latos left in the seventh inning, there were two men on and one out. The tying runs were aboard due to the back to back walks by latos. Manny Parra came in for one batter and struck him out. Sam LeCure was then brought in to face the next batter and struck him out. LeCure was fired up after his last pitch, and so was I. LeCure has been the MVP of this bullpen. He has pitched amazingly.
•Alfredo Simon pitched the final two innings, giving up one unearned run after a passed ball by Mesoraco on strike three. Nick Swisher reached base safely and then ended up scoring later in the inning.
What Worked: Obviously, the offense did their job. The pitching was top-notch as well, as this was just a dominating effort by the Reds.
What Didn’t Work: The team was not converting their scoring opportunities when they had them. They pushed across a lot of runs in the first and seventh innings, but missed a lot of opportunities in between. It is hard to complain when you total 18 hits and eight runs, though.
Where They Stand: The reds are 33 – 19 and remain 1.5 games behind the Cardinals and 1.0 game ahead of the Pirates in the NL Central.
Overall thoughts: Can this team play any better? They have now won 18 of their last 23 games. The bats are on fire, and the pitching has been exceptional. The only obstacle with their ascent to the top of the NL Central has been the play of the Cardinals and Pirates. The Cardinals are 20 – 6 in their last 26 games, and the Pirates are 17 – 8 in their last 25 games (14 – 4 in their last 18). These three teams are currently three of the top four teams in baseball as far as overall record is concerned.
Up Next: The Reds travel up the interstate to Cleveland for a short two game series to finish the Battle for Ohio.
