| Final | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles Dodgers (35-32) |
0 | 5 | 0 |
| Cincinnati Reds (30-34) |
5 | 8 | 0 |
| W: J. Cueto (6-5)  L: H. Ryu (7-3) | |||
| Box Score | Play-by-Play | Stats | Depth Chart | FanGraphs Win Probability | |||
The Good
Joey Votto‘s two run double in the third broke the series fever for the Reds and got them a lead–finally–that they would not relinquish. That hit jumped the Reds’ Win Expectancy to 77.5% in the third inning. When Brandon Phillips singled Votto home moments later, it jumped to 85%. Coming off a subpar outing, Johnny Cueto was magnificent once more (6 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 12 K). Jay Bruce slipped the surly bonds of earth in the 6th, going 2-4 for the night. Jonathan Broxton continued his mastery of the game of Baseball, getting the Reds out of a HUGE jam in the 7th with a timely double play ball, then coming back out to take care of the 8th inning. Brandon Phillips went 2-3 with a walk, for a productive night in the 4 hole.
The Bad
“Bad” takes a holiday.
The Ugly
Scott Van Slyke’s forest of a face and his last AB against Aroldis Chapman, who struck him out looking to end the game. Van Slyke was halfway back to the dugout before Brayan Pena‘s mitt made a sound.
Not so random thoughts …
I have to say, when Price called for Broxton, I was screaming for Mr. 106. This was the high leverage moment of the game, with the bases loaded and one out. You need strikeouts there. I would have rather seen Chapman make sure the Dodgers got nothing there and let Brox protect a 4 run lead. As it was, Broxton got a sweet double play. As the ball got to Cozart, it looked momentarily like it had handcuffed him, but he smoothly shoveled it to Phillips, who did the rest, tripping the light fantastic in mid air.
Jay Bruce’s tack-on home run was nice to see. How many times this year has the offense gotten 2 or 3 runs, then gone comatose?
12 strikeouts in only 6 innings and NO walks. Johnny Baseball is something else. He even picked off Gordon.
Bryan Price: “It shows up here every day. The guys take great pride in their defense.”
On the offense: “And there’s history here. We have a real good understanding that we have players here that have accomplished things in this game at a very high level. And even though we’re off to a slow first 60 plus games of the season, I still believe that we can be a dynamic offensive club, only because we don’t have a ton of rookies in our lineup–Billy’s a young player–but for the most part we’re running guys out there with experience that have credibility at this level of play. And we have to have trust and faith that they’ll come around and start to do the things that we need to do to win more games. And I think we saw some of that tonight and hopefully it’s a precursor to good things moving forward.”
The Daily Billy: Hamilton walked, stole his 24th base and singled, driving in Zack Cozart.
Tonight’s Raising Arizona Quote of the Game: “Hi, I want me some offense!”