Rus Livingood
May 31, 2013 – Reds @ Pirates – 7:05pm – Fox Sports Cincinnati
Reds Record (33 – 21)
Away Record (13 – 14)
Pirates Record (34 – 20)
Home Record (20 – 9)
Starters: Cueto (2 – 0) vs. Rodriguez (6 – 2)
The Setting: Watching at home with the family. It has been a long, long day at work.
The Game and Analysis:
•Hey! Now that is the way you kick off a big weekend series against a division rival. The Reds dominated the Pirates as Johnny Cueto threw a one hit shutout and the Reds rolled 6 – 0.
•Cueto was on his game tonight. The Reds weren’t scoring much early in the game, so Cueto just decided not to give up any hits. He hit Andrew McCutcheon in the first inning, following a walk to Neil Walker; the only other base runner came when Brandon Inge singled in the fifth inning. Inge’s hit came after a questionable call on a possible third strike. Cueto thought it was strike three and so did the Livingood household. You can’t play coulda, woulda, shoulda, though, and Cueto settled for a one hit masterpiece. He turned the game over to Same LeCure in the ninth, and his final line was 8.0 innings, 1 hit, 1 walk, 0 runs, and six strikeouts on 103 pitches. He was a ground ball inducing machine tonight.
•The Reds got on the board when Jay Bruce swatted a solo home run off his nemesis Wandy Rodriguez in the fourth inning. Prior to the home run, Bruce was 2 – 33 with 16 strikeouts against Rodriguez, and routinely sat out games in which they would have faced off. It was good to see Bruce have a little success against him, and hopefully he can build off that when they face down the line.
•Brandon Phillips added the second run for the Reds when he hit a home run that was a low liner to the corner in left field. The Reds hat hit several balls to the warning track in in left and left-center, and they were more towering shots. This ball skimmed over the fence and didn’t look like a homer when it left the bat as the others had.
•The Reds gave themselves plenty of cushion in the eighth and ninth innings, scoring four runs off reliever Mike Zagurski. Phillips was hit by a pitch to start the eighth, in what the announcers speculated could have been retaliation for McCutcheon getting hit in the first inning. These two clubs had an issue last year with beanings, and the Reds have had problems with several teams in a row regarding batters being hit or perceived to have been thrown at. Here, it looked like Zagurski was just wild. After Phillips went to third on a Bruce single with a hit and run on, he scored on a wild pitch. Todd Frazier then walked, and the beaning looked even more like an accident rather than retaliation. Derrick Robinson drove in another run with a single to make the score 4 – 0 Reds after eight innings.
•In the ninth, Zagurski gave up a single and walked three batters, including one that forced home a run. He was just all over the place, and the Pirates entered the game with the best bullpen in the National League. Bryan Morris replaced him, and he walked in a run, too. The Reds sent 15 batters to the plate in the eighth and ninth innings, and sixth of them walked or were hit by a pitch. There were also three wild pitches.
•For all of Cueto’s majesty in his performance on the mound, he struggled at the plate. He has developed into one of the league’s best sacrifice bunters over the years, but he did not look good at all on several attempts tonight. He did finally get the bunt down in his last appearance in the eighth. I am not sure what he was having a problem with, as he has worked on that facet of his game to become very good at it.
•Joey Votto went 0 – 3, making him hitless in his last 10 at bats and dropping his average down to .340. He has cooled off at the end of the month, but still had an amazing May. Now that he has cooled, Dusty Baker might take an opportunity to rest him during this road trip, but as this is an important series, he might wait until they return to Cincinnati to face the Rockies early next week.
What Worked: Cueto pitched an amazing game, and came close to a no-hitter. Usually I am not one to go on and on about coming close to something like that, but Cueto was on point. He retired 21 of his final 22 batters, and that pitch to Inge sure looked like strike three. Who is to say what would have happened later in the game as the pitches and pressure mounted to throw a no-hitter, but he sure had the stuff going to be able to pull it off. As for the offense, they forced Zagurski to throw strikes when he was struggling and ended up blowing the game wide open. It was also nice to see Bruce get a big hit off Rodriguez.
What Didn’t Work: Cueto struggled on the sacrifice bunts, which is uncharacteristic. Other than that. . .
Where They Stand: The Reds are 34 – 21 and trail the Cardinals by 2.0 games in the NL Central. They are now tied with the Pirates.
Overall Thoughts: After yesterday’s drubbing at the hands of the Indians, this was a game the Reds needed. Heck, this was a game that I needed. The Pirates are a great team, and now hold the same record as the Reds. It is nice to shutout a team like that and only give up one hit. St. Louis had their game postponed, so the Reds were temporarily able to make up a half game in the standings. The Reds kicked off this series with a big win, and hopefully it will continue all weekend.
Up Next: The Reds battle the Pirates tomorrow night on Fox for game two of this series.
