Let’s recap tonight’s titanic struggle….
FINAL
San Diego 11
Cincinnati 5
W: E. Volquez (7-7)
L: M. Leake (4-7)
BOX SCORE
POSITIVES
–NL Co-Player of the Week Drew Stubbs homered in the first inning. Stubbs’ hot hitting continues, as he went 2-5 with an RBI and two runs scored.
–Jay Bruce went 2-3 with two walks, two runs scored, and an RBI. The RBI came on Bruce’s 21st homer of the season, a blast that barely made it into the first row of seats in the right field moon deck; he also doubled.
–Scott Rolen reached base three times: 1-2, two walks, two runs scored, a run batted in.
–Bill Bray pitched two scoreless innings. Prepare for the apocalypse.
NEGATIVES
–Mike Leake was awful: 1.2 IP, five runs allowed on five hits and three walks. He couldn’t even make it out of the second inning, after the Redlegs had spotted him a three run lead. Missed opportunity.
–Devin Mesoraco was tossed in the top of the third inning for pointing out that home plate umpire Chad Fairchild is an idiot. Of course, Mes then made some contact with the umpire and he’s probably in line for a suspension. Ugh.
–After pitching well for the last couple of months, Alfredo Simon was as bad as Leake. Simon gave up five runs on four hits and three walks in two and a third innings. Game, set, match.
NOT-SO-RANDOM THOUGHTS
–You can’t win ’em all. Guess what? The Pirates got killed tonight too. So…as ugly as this one was (and it was ugly), the Reds didn’t lose any ground in the NL Central race.
–Our old friend Edinson Volquez pulled a familiar routine, giving up three runs in the first inning. At that point, it looked like win #11 was inevitable. Oh well…
–One of our editors, Steve Mancuso, spent the game in the Fox Sports Ohio suite tonight. I look forward to his report.
–Evidently, some people in the crowd tonight were booing the Reds. That’s fine, you pay your hard-earned cash for a ticket, I guess that’s your right. Still…
No need to belabor this. But I’m puzzled as to why someone would boo a team on a 10-game win streak, coming off an undefeated road trip.
— Redleg Nation (@redlegnation) July 31, 2012
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–Okay, forget about this one. The Reds have still won ten out of eleven games. I’ll take that every time.
Source: FanGraphs