Familiar formula

Greg Dafler put it aptly the other night: TOS, TBS.

As Mike Maffie wrote recently, Mike Leake is having his best year as a professional, but in his start today, Leake was pitching in and out of trouble all afternoon. In the fourth inning, he gave up an 0-2 single to Jonathan Lucroy with two outs. Leake gave up eight hits, three walks and countless line drives that were caught over his six innings. He was helped by solid defense, like this great play by Brandon Phillips (video). When Leake left the game, the Reds were trailing 3-1.

In the seventh inning, Logan Ondrusek gave up three runs before retiring a batter, putting the game out of reach. He surrendered two more hits after that and didn’t finish the inning. Ondrusek will be 30 years old next February and entering his third year of arbitration. He’s the personification of the phrase “non-tender candidate.” It’s simply inconceivable that Ondrusek would be on the Reds roster in 2015.  But then again, the same front office signed him to a two-year guaranteed contract after a season when he had a K/9 of 6.4 and BB/9 of 5.1, even though he was under team control those years. Mind-boggling.

Carlos Contreras, who hadn’t pitched for a week, threw more gas on the fire, giving up a hit and two walks before recording an out. J.J. Hoover gave up his thirteenth home run this year. Sigh.

Billy Hamilton had an infield single, a walk and stole his 56th base (video) of the year. But his errant throw in the fourth inning cost the Reds a run. Hamilton’s throw was fifteen feet up the third base line, allowing Scooter Gennett, who had singled, to get to second where he scored on Lucroy’s hit. Hamilton’s range and glove have been otherworldly this year, but the strength and accuracy of his arm have been erratic.

Matt Garza held the Reds in check over six innings with one exception. Todd Frazier, who has been struggling since his appearance in the All-Star break (.371 slugging vs. .500 before the ASG), smashed a home run to deep left field (video).

Jack Hannahan (.456 OPS) pinch hit for Leake (.513 OPS). #wegotjackforthat

Yorman Rodriguez got his first major league career hit, pinch-hitting in the ninth inning, when he slapped the first pitch he saw back up the middle for a single. He later scored on a hit by Ryan Ludwick.

Third-base coach Steve Smith got thrown out of the game in the seventh inning after arguing a call with the second base umpire. Odd thing, because it’s usually other Reds that Smith gets thrown out.

Taking a page out of Don Mattingly’s book, the Brewers challenged an umpire’s call with one out in the ninth inning of a game they were leading 9-1. Mattingly, the Dodgers’ skipper, had challenged a call last night with his team holding a 13-0 lead. Like Mattingly, the Brewers won their challenge.