Titanic Struggle Recap: The Joey Votto Show

The Good
–Joey. Votto. Our favorite first baseman had a great game tonight: 3-4, three homers, a walk, 4 runs scored, 4 RBI. You can’t ask for a better game than that. Well, I guess you can, but you’re asking too much.

–Todd Frazier, Cincinnati’s best hitter for most of this season, wasn’t satisfied with allowing Votto to take all the headlines. Frazier was 3-5 with his 17th homer, two runs scored, and an RBI.

–Anthony DeSclafani wasn’t particularly sharp, but he picked up another win by going six and a third, allowing two runs on ten hits and striking out seven batters (a career high). Love this kid.

–Zack Cozart only had one hit, but it was a three-run homer in the first inning. Cozart is hitting .259/.311/.461 with the best shortstop defense in the National League (though Atlanta fans may disagree). If Cozart isn’t an All-Star, it’ll be an injustice.

–Brayan Pena had a couple of hits, which is always a good thing.

–Good work by the Cincinnati bullpen, even if it was a bunch of low-pressure innings. Manny Parra, Ryan Mattheus, and Nate Adcock combined for 2.2 shutout innings.

The Bad
–No bad tonight. It feels good to write that.

Not-So-Random Thoughts
–Yeah, this recap took a while to get posted. Sorry, I’ve been watching the NBA Finals. Sue me.

(P.S.: Go LeBron.)

–The Reds hit five home runs. They should just do that every night.

–Correct me if I’m wrong, but tonight, I believe that Votto became the second Red of all time to have three 3-homer games. The first? Johnny Bench. Bench was good. Votto is good.

–Votto’s now hitting .300/.406/.560 with 13 homers. His wRC+ is 162. His wOBA is .414. Dude can play.

–I’m very happy that the Reds won, but let’s be clear: I take no joy in beating up on our old friend Aaron Harang.

–Injury concerns: Billy Hamilton didn’t play because of his “sore left hand.” Brandon Phillips strained his groin in the first inning, and was forced to leave the game.

–Apropos of nothing, my ten year-old son was playing a baseball video game tonight when he announced, randomly, the following nugget of baseball strategy: “I always put Aroldis Chapman in the game in the eighth inning.”

Certainly, this doesn’t apply to tonight’s game, but I thought it was an interesting statement.

–The ol’ Redlegs go for a sweep — and a four-game winning streak — tomorrow afternoon in a Businessman’s Special, as they used to call it. Rookie hurler Jon Moscot will take the mound for the good guys.