Let’s recap tonight’s titanic struggle….
FINAL
Cincinnati 6
Los Angeles 4
W: B. Arroyo (5-6)
L: H. Kuroda (5-8)
S: F. Cordero (13)
BOX SCORE
POSITIVES
–Sir Joey Votto had the big blow, a three-run homer in the seventh inning that gave the Reds a lead that they would never surrender.
–Chris Heisey had two hits, including the homer in the sixth that tied up the game at two. Paul Janish and Bronson Arroyo (!) had two hits, a run, and an RBI. Arroyo actually helped himself by singling in the go-ahead run in the seventh, just before Votto’s blast.
–Arroyo pitched a pretty good game, until he succumbed to Dusty Baker’s annoying habit of leaving his starting pitchers in the game for a couple of batters too long. In all, Arroyo went 7.2 innings and gave up six hits, no walks, and four earned runs.
–Good relief work by Bill Bray and Francisco Cordero. With a two-run lead, CoCo looked like he was going to give us a heart attack when he walked Matt Kemp to lead off the bottom of the ninth. Cordero recovered nicely however, striking out the side to record his 13th save.
NEGATIVES
–Why must Dusty leave his starting pitchers in too long? He’s been a manager for, like, a billion years. Why hasn’t he acquired more of a feel for that aspect of handling a pitching staff? (I’m certain it isn’t easy to make that decision, but it seems like this happens fairly often.)
NOT-SO-RANDOM THOUGHTS
–Nice win, and a good way to start this series. Cincinnati picked up a game in the division tonight, and now trail by three and a half.
–The value of Cincinnati’s excellent defense is underscored when you watch the Dodgers make a couple of errors and allow some unearned runs in the seventh, when the Reds broke open the game.
–CoCo’s save was the 303rd of his career, tying him with Doug Jones for 20th on the all-time list.
–Janish’s two hits pushed his rate stats up to .233/.264/.280. Ewwww.
–The Reds have won the first game of the series in each of the last six series that they have played. I wish they had won more of those series.
–How about a win in game two of the series tomorrow (or later tonight, as the case may be)? I’ll take that.