Let’s recap tonight’s titanic struggle….
FINAL
Cincinnati 1
Los Angeles 2
W: C. Kershaw (10-6)
L: H. Bailey (5-10)
S: K. Jansen (13)
BOX SCORE
POSITIVES
–Homer Bailey pitched very well, allowing two runs on seven hits in seven innings. You can’t ask for much more than that.
–JJ Hoover pitched a perfect inning of relief.
–No Red had more than one hit, but the good guys did have four doubles off Clayton Kershaw: Joey Votto, Chris Heisey, Brandon Phillips, Derrick Robinson. Jay Bruce had Cincinnati’s only RBI of the evening.
–Exciting play to end the fourth inning. With one out and runners on the corner, LA’s Juan Uribe flied out to Bruce in right field. Hanley Ramirez made the mistake of trying to tag up and score. Bruce unleashed a laser to Corky Miller at the plate, but Miller missed the tag. Fortunately, Ramirez missed home too. Then Corky and Hanley began a dance to see whether the runner could get back to the plate before the catcher could tag him out. Corky won the battle. Fun stuff.
NEGATIVES
–The Reds only had one run on six hits. But this isn’t really a negative. It’s tough to hit against Kershaw.
NOT-SO-RANDOM THOUGHTS
–Once again, the Reds fail to reach sixteen games over .500. This one was a frustrating one, since St. Louis and Pittsburgh both lost today, and the Reds could have picked up an ever-important game.
Oh well, what are you going to do? There is no shame in losing to Clayton Kershaw. That guy is good.
–Homer pitched an excellent ballgame, yet gets the loss. Reason #234,892 why pitcher wins should not even be a statistic.