Rus Livingood
July 2, 2013 – Giants @ Reds – 7:10pm – Fox Sports Ohio
Reds Record (47 – 36)
Home Record (27 – 14)
Giants Record (39 – 43)
Away Record (15– 28)
Starters: Lincecum (4 – 8) vs. Bailey (4 – 6)
The Setting: At home, and in my trusty reclining seat on the couch with the family. The game is on MLB Network, but I am watching my usual Fox Sports Ohio feed.
The Game and Analysis:
•Talk about a big-game feel! My wife was busy tending to our front porch and our flowers for the first few innings of the game. My daughter and I were watching the game on the big screen and Caillou on the iPad (well, she was watching Caillou). When my wife finally came back in, I told her that Homer Bailey was perfect through five innings! Though he ended up losing the perfect game to a walk, Bailey got the no-hitter as the Reds won 3 – 0. I will break down the no-hitter inning by inning below.
•1st inning: Bailey struck out Gregor Blanco; got Marco Scutaro to fly out to centerfield, and then Buster Posey did the same. Bailey threw 15 pitches, many of which were fastballs. Five of the pitches were balls.
•In the Reds’ half of the first, Shin-Soo Choo led off with a double off Hunter Pence’s glove. The umpire signaled home run, but replays clearly showed Pence making a leap for the ball and having the ball hit his glove before coming back into the field of play. Had the ball hit the fan after hitting Pence’s glove, it would have been a home run. Zack Cozart followed with a sacrifice bunt that allowed him to be safe at first. Choo advanced to third. Joey Votto put the first run on the board as he hit a sacrifice fly to leftfield to score Choo and make the game 1 – 0.
•2nd inning: Bailey got Pablo Sandoval to pop up to second, and then struck out Pence and Brandon Belt. He threw 11 pitches in the inning, mixing in his slider more often. Bailey threw three balls in the inning, and they just happened to be the first three pitches to Pence. It would turn out to be a rare instance on the day, but Bailey got to a full count on a batter each of the first two innings.
•3rd inning: Andres Torres flied out on the first pitch; Brandon Crawford grounded out to second; and Tim Lincecum struck out. That made four strikeouts for Bailey the first time through the order. He threw 10 pitches in the inning, still sticking with the fastball as the primary pitch.
•4th inning: Blanco lined out to left; Scutaro lined out to right; and Posey grounded out to third. He stuck with the fastball for all but two of his 12 pitches in this inning, and just kept hammering the strike zone.
•5th inning: Sandocal grounded out to short; Pence grounded out to third on one pitch; and Belt popped out to third in foul ground on the first pitch. Only six pitches for Bailey this inning, and he had a 50/50 mix of the fastball and slider. It is hard to tell what he would have gone with had the last two batters not gotten out on the first pitch, but he had been throwing a steady diet of fastballs so far in the game. Through the first five perfect innings, Bailey had thrown 54 pitches.
•6th inning: Torres was called out on strikes; Crawford struck out swinging; and Lincecum was called out on strikes. Bailey struck out the side on 15 pitches. Crawford got to a full count, fouling three pitches off before swinging through the last one. Bailey had 69 pitches in six perfect innings at this point.
•The Reds picked up a couple of insurance runs in their half of the sixth. Votto led off with a single to center, and then Brandon Phillips hit a laser beam of a home run down the leftfield line to make it 3 – 0 Reds. After Todd Frazier singled with one out, Lincecum would leave the game. His final line was 5.1 innings, 6 hits, 2 walks, 3 runs and 8 strikeouts on 102 pitches.
•7th inning: Blanco walked to break up the perfect game bid for Bailey. At this point, I thought that maybe he was feeling the pressure and missing the strike zone, but that was definitely just worrisome thinking on my part. Scutaro grounded out to third and moved the runner to second. The next play was the one that defined the no-hitter. Posey hit a soft liner to first that Votto had to field on the short-hop. Bailey was late breaking to first, possibly thinking it would be fielded in the air. Votto and Bailey were both moving toward first, but would they beat Posey to the bag to preserve the no-hitter? We’ll never know. Votto saw Blanco breaking for third, so he wheeled and fired to third to get him in a rundown. Blanco was out and Posey was safe at first on a fielder’s choice. The no-hitter was intact. Sandoval struck out to end the inning. Bailey threw 20 pitches in the inning, all but one of which was a fastball. His velocity was higher than his first few innings of work, and he just pounded the strike zone against the last two batters.
•8th inning: Another quick inning for Bailey. Pence popped out softly to shortstop; Belt flew out to rightfield; and Torres lined out to center. It took only seven pitches for Bailey, who relied on his slider slightly more than the fastball this inning.
•9th inning: Crawford bounced out to Bailey, who leaped into the air to make the grab and throw to first. Had the ball gone up the middle, you never know what would have happened. It didn’t though. Two outs away. Tony Abreu came in as a pinch-hitter, and struck out. Only one out remained. Blanco grounded a ball to Frazier at third, fired the ball to Votto at first for the final out, and the celebration ensued! Homer Bailey had thrown his second no-hitter!
•A few facts on the no-hitter: Bailey threw the last no-hitter in the majors in September of last year; he gave up one walk in each of his no-hitters; and he threw his fastball 77% of the time in this game, up from 71% in his last no-hitter.
What Worked: Everything started with Bailey’s command of his fastball. His velocity increased as the game went on, and it was apparent that the Giants could not do anything with it. He was then able to mix in his secondary pitches with similar success.
What Didn’t Work: Oh, so close to a perfect game. It is hard to nitpick on a missed third strike attempt, but that is why it is called perfection!
Where They Stand: The Reds are 48 – 36 and trail the Pirates by 4.0 games and the Cardinals by 2.0 games in the NL Central.
Overall Thoughts: This was such a fun game to watch. The adrenaline was flowing for me as the game got closer and closer to the end. I had friends at the game that were texting me, saying the atmosphere was tense with anticipation. On top of everything else, the Reds made up a full game on both the Pirates and the Cardinals. It was a great night to be a Reds fan.
Up Next: Game three of the series is tomorrow night.
