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Final R H E
Cincinnati Reds (51-71) 13 12 0
Chicago Cubs (63-57) 10 12 1
W: Storen (4-2) L: Grimm (1-2) S: Iglesias (22)
FanGraphs Win Probability | Box Score

The Good
–After a fairly pedestrian, and scoreless, first inning, Adam Duvall led off the top of the second with a single to right. Eugenio Suarez followed up with another single, and the Reds were in business with runners on first and second and no outs.

The floodgates were about to open.

Scooter Gennett singled Duvall home, and the Reds led 1-0. Phillip Ervin followed with another single that drove in Suarez. 2-0.

Stuart Turner and Scott Feldman made outs, so the Cubs were within one out of ending the inning with a tiny deficit. But Billy Hamilton walked and Jose Peraza singled to score two more runs. When Votto hit an opposite field home run — his 32nd of the season — the Reds were ahead 7-0.

But they weren’t finished. Duvall reached on an error, Suarez doubled to left-center, Cubs starter Jon Lester left the game with an injury, and Scooter walked. Ervin then doubled, scoring Suarez. Gennett was thrown out at home to end the inning.

Only two balls were hit particularly hard — Votto’s homer and Suarez’ double — but the Reds collected 9 runs on 8 hits in the inning. Ervin and Suarez each had two hits in the frame.

It’s a 9-0 lead. Game over, right? Right???

No. Nine runs wasn’t enough.

–After the Reds had blown that 9-0 lead (see below), Suarez walked to lead off the 7th inning. One batter later, Ervin blasted his second big league homer — his second in as many days — and the Reds had the lead again, 11-9. It was a lead they would not surrender.

–Ervin, of course, was the offensive star, with three hits — single, double, homer — a walk, 4 RBI and 3 runs scored. Votto had two hits, including the home run, and a walk. Suarez had a single, a double, a walk, 3 runs scored, and 2 RBI. Peraza had two hits, a walk, 2 runs scored and 3 RBI.

–Drew Storen wasn’t great, but he made a great defensive play on a comebacker, and ended up with a scoreless inning in his only inning of work. Wandy Peralta was perfect in the eighth inning, striking out two. It was the third consecutive day that Peralta took the mound, but he didn’t look any worse for the wear.

–Raisel Iglesias was dominant in the ninth, striking out the side with a wicked slider and live fastball.

–In the top of the ninth, Ervin scored from second on an infield hit. He’s fast, and it was an alert bit of baserunning. Judging on the last two nights, it’s clear that Ervin is the greatest player in the history of baseball.

The Bad
–Feldman is not healthy. He also wasn’t very good today. After being staked to a 9-0 lead, Feldman gave up a single run in the bottom of the second, then five runs in the fourth inning. On the day, Feldman went 3.2 innings, allowing six runs on seven hits, including five home runs.

In that disastrous fourth inning, Feldman threw exactly one fastball. He simply was not healthy, and it seemed pretty obvious to everyone. But it took forever for manager Bryan Price to get someone up and throwing in the bullpen, for some reason.

Michael Lorenzen gave up three more in the fifth and the Cubs had scratched their way back from a 9-0 deficit to tie the game.

Disastrous.

Not-So-Random Thoughts
–Well, that was a crazy game, eh? Only twice in the history of this franchise have the Reds won a game in which they surrendered six home runs. Those other games occurred in 1961 and 1894. I wasn’t even alive for those two!!!

–Votto has been on base three times or more in one consecutive game. Nice little streak he’s working on here.

–All of a sudden, Peraza has learned how to walk. It’s crazy. Also, his OBP has now topped the .300 mark for the first time this season.

–Lorenzen has not distinguished himself after such a nice start to the season. As Lance McAlister noted on twitter, in Lorenzen’s first 26 appearances, he posted the following: 34.1 IP, 10 runs allowed, 2.62 ERA. The last 26: 29.1 innings, 21 runs, 6.49 ERA. Something’s not right with this picture.

–Before today, the Cubs had won 106 games in a row when they scoring ten or more runs.

–Here we go, on to Atlanta. Sal Romano will face R.A. Dickey tomorrow night.

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