Let’s recap tonight’s titanic struggle….
FINAL
St. Louis 3
Cincinnati 8
W: T. Cingrani (5-1)
L: J. Westbrook (7-6)
BOX SCORE
POSITIVES
–Devin Mesoraco went 2-4 with two homers and three RBI. He’s now hitting .257/.316/.414 on the season. I’ll take that.
–Joey Votto reached base four times, for the second straight night (1-2, 3 walks, 2 runs scored). Brandon Phillips was 2-4 with a walk and an RBI double. Shin-Soo Choo hit his 15th homer of the year.
–Absolutely brilliant work by the Reds bullpen tonight: four shutout, no-hit innings. Special kudos to JJ Hoover and Manny Parra, who were simply outstanding.
NEGATIVES
–Todd Frazier is 0-for-his-last-25. Ugh.
–The Redlegs had bases loaded with no outs in the seventh inning, yet they couldn’t plate even a single run. Fortunately, it didn’t hurt them, but the score was 5-3 at the time. A bit nerve-wracking.
NOT-SO-RANDOM THOUGHTS
–Sometimes you gotta give credit to the pupils. Or does Dusty get credit for the wins, with blame for the losses going to the players?
–Devin Mesoraco is turning into an excellent major league player before our eyes. If he gets really good, perhaps he can hit higher than eighth in the lineup?
–Not a great start by Tony Cingrani: five innings, three runs allowed on four hits and five walks. The young guy will have better days.
–This was the first time in ten games against St. Louis that the Reds scored more than four runs.
–Does everyone feel a little better today? Reds can win the series tomorrow, and that will be a big deal.