Let’s recap tonight’s titanic struggle….
FINAL
Cincinnati 5
Atlanta 6
W: T. Hudson (6-7)
L: M. Latos (8-3)
S: C. Kimbrel (25)
BOX SCORE
POSITIVES
–Shin-Soo Choo reached base three times from the leadoff spot, again. Choo was 2-4 with a double and a walk, and he scored three of Cincinnati’s five runs.
–Brandon Phillips was 2-4 with a double, and he drove in two more runs. That’s 69 RBI on the season for BP.
–Cincinnati got some outstanding relief work from Logan Ondrusek and Alfredo Simon, if you can believe it. Four innings of shutout baseball.
—Corky Miller is back with the Reds. That’s a positive development.
NEGATIVES
–A rare poor start for Mat Latos, who only survived four innings. Latos gave up six runs on nine hits and two walks, though he struck out seven. Mama said there’d be days like this.
–The Reds scored two in the first, but one wonders if they could have scored more, if not for a classic Brandon Phillips TOOTBLAN. After BP drove in a run, Jay Bruce came to the plate, with BP on first and Joey Votto on third. Bruce delivered a single that scored Votto, but Phillips was thrown out trying to advance to third, for the second out of the inning. The play wasn’t even close, and I’m not sure why Phillips thought he could make it.
We’ll never know if the Reds could have scored more, but they would have had runners at the corners with one out. Doesn’t seem outside the realm of possibility that they could have gotten one more run…and they only lost the game by one.
NOT-SO-RANDOM THOUGHTS
–Sigh….
–You know, you score five runs for Mat Latos, and you’re gonna have a pretty good chance on most nights. Not tonight, because, you know, that’s the way things seem to be going for the Reds right now.
–That was Latos’ shortest start of the season.
–No one in their right mind thinks Zack Cozart should be hitting second. We’re not going to debate that any longer. But it really irritates me when Joey Votto is left standing in the on-deck circle as the final out is made in a one-run game.