| Final | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|
|  Cincinnati Reds (8-8-2) | 6 | 6 | 1 |
|  San Francisco Giants (5-13-1) | 5 | 8 | 2 |
|  W: Lorenzen (1-0) L: Strickland (1-1) SV: Adleman |
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| | Box Score | AP Recap | | |||
Pitching: Anthony DeSclafani got his fourth start of the Spring and his first since being named to the 2015 starting rotation. He wasn’t terribly sharp with five hits and two walks against three strikeouts, but got the job done with three runs, one earned, over 4.2 innings pitched, taking 82 pitches to do so. El’Hajj Muhammad came in to get DeSclafani out of a jam and despite giving up a single that came back and deflected off his left heel, got out of the jam while allowing neither of his two inherited runners to score.
JJ Hoover pitched a perfect sixth inning, only taking nine pitches to do so.
Michael Lorenzen entered for the seventh and eight inning and showed just how important the win stat is. His W tonight should stand for Walk, as he walked six batters in his two innings, including four straight batters in the seventh inning to drive the only earned run he allowed. Allowing only one run after walking six in two innings is a minor miracle.
Timothy Adleman allowed two hits and a run in his lone inning of work and still got the save. Seeing as how this is the kind of situation the closer will be in during the regular season, it almost makes you want to ask an Inflammatory Question.
Hitting: Joey Votto is back folks, pitchers beware. He might refuse to swing at balls, but if you give him something to hit he’ll still turn on it and make you regret it. Votto hit a first pitch solo homer to right field in the top of the first. You can see the highlight here on MLB.com. Votto + Power All Directions = 2012 Votto? I salivate at the thought. That said, if the price of batting Votto second this year is this..
RT @buckb4: your best guess of Cinncy opening day batting order?//Hamilton, Votto, Phillips, Bruce, Byrd, Frazier, Meso, Cozart, Cueto
..then I think I will have to say no thank you.
It wasn’t until the top of the ninth inning, when winds were whipping around on the field that the Reds finally opened up their offense. With the bases loaded by an error, walk, and single, Ivan De Jesus Jr got a two RBI single followed by Chris Dominguez doubling in another two runners. Kyle Skipworth added an RBI single before later getting thrown out at third when he tried to advance on a ball in the dirt, ending the inning, but the five run inning was all the Reds needed to secure the win.
The Giants had some great defense in the first inning before they committed the two errors later in the game. Jay Bruce had what would have been a double off the left center wall snagged on a running jump by the left fielder and Billy Hamilton had a bunt single taken away by a nifty barehanded scoop and throw by the third baseman to get him out just in time at first.
The Rest:
-Prayers go out to Cueto, who is back in the Dominican Republic right now with family issues. Hope whatever it is gets sorted out alright there. His exact return date is unknown, but Price remains optimistic he’ll be ready for Opening Day.
-The defense made a couple mistakes on paper, but was mostly subject to some rough officiating. Devin Mesoraco was called for a passed ball with DeSclafani in the fifth despite him being initially set up in a completely different location than where the ball ended up. Zack Cozart was charged with a fielding error when he jumped to try to snag a ball out of the air and the ball hit the palm of his glove, falling to the ground and allowing a run to score. It would have been a decent play had he made it, the normal effort needed for it to be an error could be debated.
Next Up:
The Reds take on the Athletics at 4:05pm EST. Rasiel Iglesias’ (0.00 ERA in 7.2 IP) second start this Spring will be against Jesse Hahn (6.14 ERA in 7.1 IP). The game will be broadcasted on radio on WLW 700.