Let’s recap today’s titanic struggle….
FINAL
Cincinnati 5
Chicago (NL) 6
W: H. Rondon (1-0)
L: J. Broxton (2-2)
BOX SCORE
THE GOOD
Curtis Partch. Had a rough first outing, but he redeemed himself today. We should be talking about him and how he saved the game. I was pretty sure he was going to pull a Carlos Fisher there and go for 90 pitches.
Jay Bruce had 4 hits. Mesoraco had 2. Manny Parra got an out.
THE BAD
Perhaps “bad” is harsh, but Mat Latos struggled today and even he admitted that while the bullpen gave up a couple of runs, he gave up four. Sam LeCure has had a bad week. Let’s just leave it at that. No need to jump off the Sudden Sam bandwagon.
THE UGLY
Maybe I’m just too close to this, but I cannot figure out what the Reds are thinking anymore with respect to Aroldis Chapman. It seems clear to me that Dusty Baker’s definition of a high-leverage situation is the risk of blowing a lead and getting second-guessed by the followers of The Book, so he’s not going to use his silver bullet until the Reds are ahead. If the rest of the team doesn’t get him that lead, that’s on the players. Nevertheless, today was stupefying. You’ve got two important pitchers (Cueto, Marshall) already on the DL. Why do you risk hurting Jonathan Broxton–when he tells you he’s sore–when you have Mr. 106 available. We know the Reds think Chapman is somewhat fragile, but this is ridiculous. The bullpen drops another game to St. Louis.
This can’t continue.
Sure it’s been noted, but I just realized that Dusty tried to “sneak” Broxton into the game vs the Cubs 2-3-4 hitters. Perfect time for it.
 Joel Luckhaupt (@jluckhaupt) June 14, 2013
Marty on Broxton’s continued absence: “They’re so secretive about everything.”
 Chris Garber (@cgarber8) June 13, 2013
Evidently. RT @RedPlacementLvl: An injured Broxton is going to pitch before Chapman?
 Redleg Nation (@redlegnation) June 13, 2013