Time for a recap of tonight’s titanic struggle….
FINAL
Cincinnati 4
Pittsburgh 0
WP: Arroyo (4-1)
LP: Duke (3-2)
BOX SCORE
POSITIVES
–Great outing for Bronson Arroyo. Yeah, it was against the Pirates, but it is great to see. Eight innings, four hits, no runs allowed. Dropped his ERA below five. Pitching performances like this need to be routine if the Reds are going to win consistently with the pathetic “offense” on this club.
–Ryan Hanigan reached base three times, he’s hitting .412, he has a cannon for an arm. There’s a lot to like about him right now.
–Adam Rosales was on base three times, as well. The legend continues to grow.
–Joey Votto: 2-4 with an RBI and a walk. In case you hadn’t noticed, he’s good.
NEGATIVES
–TOS*
–Jerry Hairston, Jr., is a disaster: 0-4, 2 Ks. The only people surprised are the ones who thought he’d “figured it out” last year. The rest of us look at his crappy career numbers and realize that he’s a decent spare part to have around (I don’t mind having him on the roster at all), but you can’t play him too often.
ETC.
–Back to two over .500, and a good start to the short road trip. Maybe the Reds should play all their games on the road. Either way, the good guys are now tied for second in the NL Central (with Milwaukee), four games behind St. Louis.
–Rosales dove into the stands to catch a little pop fly. It almost doesn’t matter how well he plays, if he keeps doing stuff like that and running to first base after a walk, he’s going to become a fan favorite and have a relatively long career in Cincinnati.
Then, of course, they compared him to Chris Sabo, Ryan Freel, and Pete Rose. This stuff is so predictable.
–Interesting stat from Mike in the game thread: Reds #8 hitters have a 564 OPS; Reds #9 hitters have an OPS of .545 OPS. Yes, our pitchers (and pinch-hitters) are almost out-hitting our 8th place hitters. We’ve played a month; it’s not that early any longer.
–Fourth shutout of the year for the Reds. Last year, they had 6 shutouts all season long. That’s good. Also good: as noted by al, the Reds are working an a streak of 19 consecutive scoreless innings.
*This offense stinks.