Let’s recap tonight’s titanic struggle….
Final
Chicago 3
Cincinnati 2
WP: Wells (6-12)
LP: Arroyo (14-8)
SV: Marmol (24)
Box Score
POSITIVES
–MVP Joey Votto belted his 32nd homerun of the year.
–Ryan Hanigan went 2-for-4 and drove in the other Cincinnati run.
–Nick Masset has only allowed 1 run since the all-star break and continued to impress tonight with 2 innings of shutout relief. He threw first-pitch strikes to 6 of the 7 batters he faced tonight and surrendered just 1 hit while striking out three Cubs.
NEGATIVES
–The Redleg Nation collective was not strong enough to break the spell that Randy Wells holds over this team. Even though Wells was 0-5 with a 6.23 ERA in his last 6 starts, Wells improved his career record against the Reds tonight to 4-1 with a 2.64 ERA in 7 starts.
–Outside of Hanigan, no other Reds collected more than 1 hit.
NOT-SO-RANDOM THOUGHTS
–A “quality start” from Bronson Arroyo. Two balls left the yard, though, and it appeared that he got lucky that a couple of other hanging breaking balls stayed in the ballpark.
–The Cardinals also lost tonight in a MUCH uglier game, 14-5 to the Nationals. The WLB’s are 5-9 since sweeping the Reds earlier this month.
–The Reds are 10-4 since the last Cardinals series and remain 4 games up on the WLB’s.
–Travis Wood was moved up a day to pitch on normal rest Sunday against the Cubs Casey Coleman (1-1, 5.68 ERA.) It’s a great opportunity for the Reds to pick up another series win.
–The Reds already know who is pitching the Cardinals series, but they aren’t announcing it publicly. Arroyo, Wood, and Homer Bailey would be the three starters in line to take those three starts.
–BELIEVE!