Let’s recap today’s titanic struggle….
FINAL — 11 innings
Cincinnati 0
Los Angeles 1
W: B. League (6-3)
L: C. Partch (0-1)
BOX SCORE
POSITIVES
–Superb start by Tony Cingrani, once again. Today, he went seven innings, allowing only a single hit (to the opposing pitcher, of course), while striking out 11 batters. Great stuff.
–Sam LeCure gave up two hits, but struck out four batters in an inning and a third. Manny Parra struck out both hitters he faced.
–Reds pitchers struck out 20 Dodgers today, setting a club record.
–Joey Votto had two hits, including a double.
NEGATIVES
–No offense. Three measly hits in 11 innings. Ugh.
–Dusty Baker had no problem losing this game while leaving his best reliever in the bullpen. I’ll never understand that.
Then again, Aroldis Chapman has pitched one inning in the last week, so he may be tired.
–The Reds scored four runs in this four-game series. That’s tough to do.
NOT-SO-RANDOM THOUGHTS
–Embarrassing.
—Great stuff by ESPN: Tony Cingrani threw seven shutout innings for the first time in his career on Sunday. Cingrani also matched his career high with 11 strikeouts (also struck out 11 on April 28). The last Reds pitcher to throw at least seven shutout innings while striking out 11 or more batters was Kyle Lohse on April 15, 2007. Tony Cingrani is the 1st Reds pitcher with at least 7 innings and 11 strikeouts while allowing no more than 1 hit and 1 walk since Johnny Vander Meer in 1941.
A terrible showing today, Redlegs. Just awful. Milton is disappointed.
Reds are gonna lose occasionally, but I tire of losing with the team’s worst reliever on the mound, and Chapman nowhere to be seen.
— Chad Dotson (@dotsonc) July 29, 2013
Has anybody's game turned around this season more than Manny Parra's game? 180 degrees. #reds
— Richard Fitch (@RichardFitchNYC) July 28, 2013
In an effort to describe what Curtis Partch is like, one could do far worse (and perhaps no better) than describing him to be like "a boss."
— James Pennington (@pennington_jl) July 28, 2013
Excited to see the innovative methods Dusty Baker will use to ensure Aroldis Chapman doesn't enter this game.
— Jonah Keri (@jonahkeri) July 28, 2013
Today marked the fifth time this season that the Reds lost an extra-inning game without Aroldis Chapman pitching.
— Jeff Erickson (@Jeff_Erickson) July 29, 2013
That glides over the point that they scored exactly zero runs. But there's nothing more high-leverage than an extra-inning game. Inexcusable
— Jeff Erickson (@Jeff_Erickson) July 29, 2013
God, I sure freaking hope the Reds have a 5-2 lead in the ninth tomorrow so they're allowed to use their best reliever.
— Jason Linden (@JasonLinden) July 29, 2013
I get so tired of fear-based managing of extra innings games.
— Chris Garber (@cgarber8) July 28, 2013