Let’s recap tonight’s titanic struggle….
FINAL — 11 innings
Chicago (NL) 6
Cincinnati 8
W: N. Masset (3-5)
L: J. Russell (1-6)
BOX SCORE
POSITIVES
–Jay Bruce hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the 11th (after Joey Votto doubled) for the walkoff win. Bruce now has 31 homers and 92 RBI on the season. He’s the man.
–Chris Heisey had another solid game: 2-5 with his 17th homer and 2 RBI. In the AB after he hit the homer, he drove in a run with an infield single. The guy’s doing it all.
–Brandon Phillips continued his hot hitting, with a double and his 16th homer. Drew Stubbs was 3-6 with a run scored and an RBI.
–Outstanding relief work by Jose Arredondo and Bill Bray.
–Miguel Cairo stole a base!
NEGATIVES
–Other than Homer Bailey’s first inning (see below), the only negative was Francisco Cordero, who gave up two runs on a couple of hard hit balls and a blooper in the ninth, blowing the save.
NOT-SO-RANDOM THOUGHTS
–I know the Cubs stink, but it’s always fun to win 3 out of 4 against that team.
–Same story for Homer Bailey. He gives up two homers in the first inning, then settles down to strike out nine and shut out the Cubs through six innings. If he ever decides to put it all together, watch out.
–CoCo was 16 for his last 16 save opportunities before tonight. This is the first blown save he’s had in the second half of the season.