Let’s recap today’s titanic struggle….
FINAL
Atlanta 1
Cincinnati 2
WP: Volquez (2-1)
LP: Hanson (8-8)
S: Cordero (29)
BOX SCORE
POSITIVES
–Orlando Cabrera was the only Red with more than one of the Reds’ five hits, but Brandon Phillips had a huge RBI triple, then scored the winning run on an error by last year’s Cabrera, Alex Gonzalez. Good ol’ Gonzo.
–Jordan Smith, Bill Bray, and Nick Masset pitched three shutout, no-hit innings. All of a sudden, the bullpen is looking like less and less of a liability. (Even CoCo pitched a scoreless ninth, though he did give up a double and brought the go-ahead run to the plate, just to make sure we weren’t too comfortable.)
–Edinson Volquez got the win, going five innings and giving up just one run on three hits, while striking out six. Sounds good, huh? Well, he walked five, so Volquez was as erratic as ever.
–Attendance was 40,871, another sellout. Total attendance for the series: 122,855.
NEGATIVES
–None.
NOT-SO-RANDOM THOUGHTS
–Cincinnati took 2 of 3 from the NL East leaders, before the largest crowd for a weekend series in Great American Ballpark history. I’ve been waiting years for this.
–The Reds are back to 12 games over .500, which equals their high-water mark of the season.
–Reds optioned Carlos Fisher to Louisville. Tomorrow, they are expected to purchase the contract of Russ Springer.
–Cincinnati now heads to the road for a six game trip, beginning tomorrow in Pittsburgh.
Mr. T