Rus Livingood
July 6, 2013 – Mariners @ Reds – 4:10pm – Fox Sports Ohio
Reds Record (49 – 37)
Home Record (29 – 15)
Mariners Record (38 – 48)
Away Record (17– 26)
Starters: Bonderman (1 – 2) vs. Latos (7 – 2)
The Setting: Casa de Livingood
The Game and Analysis:
•This game started out like yesterday’s game with the Mariners jumping out to a first inning lead. The Reds’ offense would kick into high gear, though, as they came from behind and then poured it on in a 13 – 4 win.
•The Mariners scored two runs in the first off a single by Endy Chavez and a two run homer by Kyle Seager. That was a bit of a mirror of yesterday’s game (with different batters), only this time the Reds recorded an out before they found themselves down 2 – 0.
•The Reds got one run back in the second inning, but nearly came away with nothing in the inning. Jay Bruce led off the inning with a walk, and went to second on a wild pitch. A Jack Hannahan groundout put him on third. Cesar Izturis, starting at shortstop in place of Zack Cozart, hit a bloop single to rightfield. It appeared it might be caught on the fly, so Bruce had to hold up and then broke for home when it dropped. The throw home beat a sliding Bruce by a few feet, but the ball went in and out of the catcher’s glove before the tag, making the score 2 – 1.
•Seager picked up another RBI for the Mariners in the third, scoring Brad Miller to make the score 3 – 1. Miller had walked and went from first to third on a Chavez single.
•The Reds picked up the pace in the fourth inning, doing some damage with two outs. Jack Hannahan doubled earlier in the inning, and the Mariners intentionally walked Ryan Hanigan to get to the pitcher. The Reds had just employed this same strategy in a similar situation in the top of the inning and it worked as it was drawn up. For the Reds, though, Mat Latos came through in a big way, shooting a double to the right-centerfield gap to plate both runners and tie the score at 3 – 3. Shin-Soo Choo followed with a line drive single to center to score Latos and give the Reds their first lead of this series, 4 – 3.
•The Reds added two more runs the next inning, stringing together several good at bats with two outs. Bruce singled, Hannahan walked, and then Izturis came through with another clutch hit, a two run double on a line drive up the middle. The Reds led 6 – 3 after five innings.
•The Mariners scored their final run of the game off Latos in the sixth inning as Brendan Ryan doubled in Dustin Ackley to pull Seattle back to a two run defecit at 6 – 4. Latos would leave after the sixth inning, throwing 111 pitches and giving up the four runs on six hits and four walks. He worked his way out of a couple of jams, but just has not been as sharp as earlier in the season. Luckily for him, the Reds’ bats were out in full force today.
•In the Reds’ half of the sixth, the two out hitting theme continued. Choo had led off the inning with a single, but was still on first with two outs. Brandon Phillips singled to put runners on first and second, and then Bruce lined an opposite field double to the gap to score both runners and make it 8 – 4. Hannahan singled in Bruce (9 – 4) before getting tagged out as he retreated back to first.
•The Reds would cap off the offensive onslaught with four more runs in the eighth inning as they sent nine batters to the late:
1. Choo walked.
2. Derrick Robinson reached on an error and both he and Choo advanced a base on a second error on the play.
3. Votto was intentionally walked to load the bases.
4. Phillips hit a sacrifice fly to score Choo (10 – 4). Robinson went to third.
5. Bruce reached on a fielder’s choice, scoring Robinson (11 – 4) and sending Votto to second. The pitcher fielded the ball, and after some indecision threw home just a fraction of a second late, allowing Robinson to beat the tag.
6. Hannahan singled in Votto (12 – 4). Bruce went to third.
7. Chris Heisey struck out looking.
8. Hanigan doubled. Bruce scored (13 – 4) and Hannahan went to third.
9. Cozart struck out to end the inning.
•The Reds bullpen threw three more scoreless innings, building on their recent string of strong performances.
What Worked: Obviously, the offense looked much better than it has been lately. The Reds came up with many two out hits, and were a staggering 8 – 17 with runners in scoring position. You can’t expect numbers like this all the time, but it was nice to see the Reds come through in the clutch for a change. Latos struck out 11, and the bullpen turned in a good effort.
What Didn’t Work: Latos walked four and seems like a different pitcher than when he had the great start to the season. I haven’t noticed a difference in mechanics, but his location is definitely a problem right now.
Where They Stand: The Reds are 50 – 37 and trail the Pirates by 3.5 games and the Cardinals by 2.5 games in the NL Central.
Overall Thoughts: Where have these Reds been? They came through with hit after hit when they needed it. This was reminiscent of the early-season club that would routinely explode with big innings or drop double figure runs on teams. This offense has been in a funk for a while, and honestly has not been running on all cylinders at once this year. If they could ever put it all together, they will be very tough to beat.
Up Next: The final game of the series is tomorrow afternoon.
