Let’s recap today’s titanic struggle….
FINAL
Cincinnati 5
Pittsburgh 0
WP: Bailey (2-1)
LP: Duke (1-6)
BOX SCORE
POSITIVES
–Wow. Just…wow. Are you kidding me? Homer Bailey follows up yesterday’s one-hitter by Johnny Cueto in dazzling fashion, spinning a four-hit complete game shutout. Bailey struck out 6, walked none and — get this — threw only 90 pitches!
Are you kidding me? That didn’t actually happen, did it?
–Brandon Phillips and Drew Stubbs each had two hits, including a double for BP and a 2-run homer for Stubbs. Ryan Hanigan doubled and knocked in a run, but he was robbed of a hit in the 9th inning and that caused his OBP to drop below .500.
–Joey Votto homered in the first, a two-run blast of the sort that we’ve come to expect from Mr. Vottomatic.
NEGATIVES
–None whatsoever.
ETC.
–SWEEP! I cannot believe it. Yes, this is the crappy Pirates…but these same crappy Pirates swept the Reds last month. Fun stuff.
–That’s five wins in a row, seven wins in the last nine games, twelve of sixteen. The Reds are four games over .500 and in second place as they head into a weekend series vs. the first-place Cardinals.
–That was Homer Bailey’s first complete game. It was the first time the Reds have had back-to-back complete-game shutouts since June 9-10, 1989, when Jose Rijo and Tom Browning did it against the Dodgers.
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