Let’s recap tonight’s titanic struggle….
FINAL
Milwaukee 3
Cincinnati 4
W: N. Masset (1-3)
L: K. Loe (2-5)
S: F. Cordero (10)
BOX SCORE
POSITIVES
–Jay Bruce. Joey Votto. Are those two names positive enough for you?
With the Reds losing 3-0 in the 7th inning — and appearing as if they had no life in them — Joey Votto singled, and Jay Bruce homered to cut the lead to one. Then, in the eighth, Votto hit a two-run homer to give the Reds the winning margin.
Bruce’s homer was his league-leading 17th of the season. Votto went 3-4 on the night and scored two runs. Nice.
–Francisco Cordero pitched a perfect ninth to record the 300th save of his career. Congrats, CoCo!
Joey Votto (The Enquirer/Cara Owsley)
NEGATIVES
–None.
NOT-SO-RANDOM THOUGHTS
–Nice win, and the Reds actually won a series! Tonight’s win looked like the good ol’ fighting Reds that we’ve seen so much of over the last couple of years. Enjoyable.
–Best win of the year? Perhaps. Maybe the best since Opening Day, at the very least.
–I couldn’t call it a positive, but after a tough start, Mike Leake really settled down to keep the Reds in the game. He went six innings and gave up three runs on seven hits. Leake didn’t walk a batter, and two of those runs came in the first inning. I’ll take that outing from Leake every single time.
–Funny how hitting two lefties back to back in the lineup can work…right, Dusty? I want to see Votto and Bruce hitting back to back all season long.
–On the season, Votto is hitting .338/.468/.532. Bruce is hitting .292/.355/.580. Not many teams can boast a 1-2 punch like that, and it’s a big reason why I think the Reds are going to stick around the pennant race all season long.
–CoCo now has 123 saves as a Red. That’s third in club history behind #2 John Franco and #1…well, I can’t say the name of the guy in the top spot.
–Votto’s game-winning homer was one of the hardest hit balls I’ve ever seen. It hit off the batters eye in center field, and it got there in a hurry. Just a bomb.
–Day off tomorrow. Let’s enjoy it, shall we?