Let’s recap tonight’s titanic struggle….
FINAL
Milwaukee 1
Cincinnati 6
WP: Chapman (1-0)
LP: Coffey (2-3)
BOX SCORE
POSITIVES
–Aroldis Chapman did it again. A scoreless inning, 1-2-3, two strikeouts, picking up his first major league win. More impressively, Chapman hit 104 on the radar gun. Twice. Read that again…twice.
Simply amazing.
–Scott Rolen continues to rebound from a short slump; he had two hits, including another double, and a couple of RBI. Miguel Cairo also continued to get clutch hits, going 2-3 with a double that scored pinch-runner Brandon Phillips with the go-ahead run.
–Ryan Hanigan hit a huge three-run, pinch-hit homer into the upper deck, giving the Reds a 4-1 lead that they wouldn’t relinquish. He hammered it.
–Nice start by Johnny Cueto. He was effectively wild at times, but he finished with a six-inning outing, giving up just one run on five hits.
–Once again, great work by Nick Masset and Francisco Cordero. Love to see the back of the bullpen rounding into shape.
NEGATIVES
–None.
NOT-SO-RANDOM THOUGHTS
–Cincinnati is now 23 games over .500, at 78-55. The Cardinals lost again (their fifth straight loss to teams under .500), so the Reds now hold an eight-game lead in the National League Central. Unbelievable.
–The Reds have now equaled their win total from last year. Today is September 1. Are you kidding me?
–As Reds fans, however, we have to be embarrassed at the fact that only 16,412 people showed up to watch tonight’s game. That’s just sad.
–Aroldis Chapman has the most ridiculous slider I’ve ever seen in my life. Filthy.
–How good has Miguel Cairo been this year? I’ll ask the same question about Ryan Hanigan, too.
–I just cannot believe what we’ve seen from Chapman. Further, I can’t believe what we are witnessing with this entire team. It’s just crazy, and I’m loving every second of it.
–The WLBs are eight games behind Cincinnati, and eight games ahead of third place. I love it.
