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Let’s recap tonight’s titanic struggle….

FINAL
Pittsburgh 1
Cincinnati 4
W: M. Leake (7-3)
L: F. Liriano (5-3)
S: A. Chapman (18)
BOX SCORE

POSITIVES
–It was a night filled with solo homers. All four Cincinnati runs scored via the solo shot, including upper deck blasts by Zack Cozart and Todd Frazier. Frazier’s homer gave the Reds a lead they would not relinquish.

In the eighth inning, Joey Votto and Jay Bruce got in on the action with homers of their own.

–Mike Leake pitched an outstanding game, allowing only one run on six hits over seven innings. Leake is now 7-3 with a 2.64 ERA.

–Tony Cingrani struck out two hitters in the eighth, in a very tense and important situation (in his first relief appearance of the season). Probably the most exciting point in the game. Sure, Aroldis Chapman got the save (and Aroldis pitched well), but Tony Cingrani collected the most important outs in the game.

NEGATIVES
–None.

NOT-SO-RANDOM THOUGHTS
–The mighty Redlegs are now fifteen games over .500, at 43-28. That’s good.

–The win means the Reds move a game and a half ahead of the Pirates in the tight NL Central race.

–Leake is 7-3 with a 2.64 ERA. Raise your hand if you predicted that before the season. I couldn’t be happier for Leake, who (like Homer Bailey) has often been maligned among Reds fans.

–Aroldis Chapman came up and in to Neil Walker in the ninth inning, nearly hitting the Pittsburgh second baseman. I’m sure the Pirates will get their underpants all twisted up over the errant pitch, whether it was intentional or not. The Pirates seem to be really insecure when it comes to nonsense like this, always wanting to prove a point, to show that they belong. It’s a desperation that is palpable.

The truth, most likely, is that they secretly know what the rest of us know: they are pretenders and they’ll be also-rans in this pennant race soon enough. (Although I certainly concede that this is an organization that is set up nicely for the next few years. Not yet, though.)

Source: FanGraphs
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