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The Cincinnati Reds (49-55) beat the Pittsburgh Pirates (46-60) by a score of 11-6, Monday night, at Great American Ballpark.

The Reds scored all but one of their runs in the best inning of Redlegs baseball, all year. They dropped 10 runs in the second inning to bury them, early, as the Reds beat the Pirates.

The inning began with back-to-back doubles from Josh VanMeter and Scooter Gennett. That tied the score at one. Rather than walk you through the events of the inning, one-by-one, I’ll just list who crossed home plate in the bottom of the second:

VanMeter, Gennett, Tucker Barnhart, Sonny Gray, Jesse Winker, Joey Votto, Eugenio Suarez, Yasiel Puig, VanMeter (again), and Jose Iglesias. So, you know, everyone.

Winker added another run scored on a wild pitch in the fifth.

Speaking of Winker, he was apart of this awesome relay:

Pitching-wise, it was an interesting night. In case you weren’t aware, the Pirates did have Jordan Lyles tabbed to go, but traded him to Milwaukee, hours before the game. So they had an emergency spot start for a kid without a major league start to his name. Alex McRae (0-3, 9.98 ERA), and his 8+ FIP, toed the rubber to start the game and he did not last long. Clint Hurdle yanked him after four outs as the Reds touched him up for seven runs (five earned) on six hits and two walks.

Gray (6-6, 3.45) pitched decently, but wasn’t necessarily dominant. He fanned three Pirates, but also gave up six hits, including a pair of homers, and four runs (all earned). He seemed to be trying to hit the corners, and keep it on the black, rather than pounding the strike zone. That’s what doomed him to just the 5.1 innings. David Bell brought in Wandy Peralta in the sixth who promptly loaded the bases and allowed a grand slam to Colin Moran. That would do it for the scoring.

Winker, Votto, Suarez, and Gennett all turned in multi-hit nights as the Reds offense continued to roll. Since the All-Star Break, the Reds have led the NL in batting average (.296), on-base percentage (.357), and slugging percentage (.504) and rank third in runs scored (90, 5.63/game), coming into Monday night. The drubbing of the Pirates can only have helped those numbers, for the Reds.

Worth noting, Votto got on base four times, Monday night, which should push him past the .300 OBP-mark for the month. There was some scare that this would be the first ever month of his career that he finished with a sub-.300 OBP.

Game two will feature Tanner Roark (6-6, 3.95) starting against Joe Musgrove (7-9, 4.29), supposing one, or both, are not traded between now and then. The Reds sit at 4-7 on the year against the Pirates.

8 Responses

  1. Hanawi

    Interesting note about Votto and the .300 OBP for the month. I haven’t dug into the advanced stats as to why, but Votto’s walk rate has fallen off a cliff this year. I suspect that pitchers are more willing to challenge him since he hasn’t been making them pay with extra base hits versus Joey chasing more pitches. But it is a stark drop.

  2. Roger Garrett

    Untill the offense becomes consistent we are just exactly where we have been all year.Two games in Colorado where we scored 26 runs and one was a loss and tonight with 11 make it appear we are on a run.We just took 2 out of 3 at home and only scored 8 runs against pitching that was just awful.Scored one run after the 10 spot against scrub guys tonight.I love the Reds and always will but we are who we are and right now I can see the front office huddling up and saying I think we can do it which is a big mistake.

    • Matt WI

      I would love to understand why a team with some of the best pitching in the league appears to struggle when the offense provides more than enough to get you through. I’m sure if you get down to it, the record is just fine in games when they score 6 or more runs, but it sure seems like games end up a lot more uncomfortable than you’d think they should be, if nothing else. Well… letting Wandy pitch covers some good portion of that explanation 🙂

  3. KDJ

    All nine players scored in one inning.
    Can anyone find out how frequently that has happened?

  4. Eric B

    I like the beard. Seems to ne catching on. Peraza looks more intimidating as well.

  5. Eric B

    Last night he fouled off a couple of pitches in his kill zone. This has happened more often as of late. I just don’t get why. His swing hasn’t changed. The mistake pitches wind up either in the mit or fouled off. Just like turning off a switch his light went out.

  6. Jeff Carr

    Eric, man, you have no idea how much I would love this to happen!

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