| Final | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cincinnati Reds (7-8) |
4 | 5 | 0 |
| Milwaukee Brewers (5-7) |
1 | 4 | 2 |
| W: DeSclafani (1-0) L: Anderson (0-1) SV: Iglesias (2) |
|||
| Statcast | Box Score | Game Thread | |||
An early 3-run moonshot from Eugenio Saurez held up as Anthony DeSclafani and the bullpen shut down the Milwaukee Brewers (5-7) offense on Saturday night. The win moved the Cincinnati Reds (7-8) into second place in the National League Central.
The Offense
Phillip Ervin led off the game with an infield single on a dribbler up the third base line. After Nick Castellanos lined out, Joey Votto reached safely on an error to put runners on the corners. That brought Eugenio Suarez to the plate and he didn’t waste time taking advantage of the additional baserunner provided by the Brewers defense as he hit a home run back to Cincinnati. Sure, Hawk-Eye measured it at 427 feet, but they were incorrect as it’s much farther to Cincinnati from home plate at Miller Park than that.
The offense was a bit quiet in the 2nd and 3rd, but that changed in the 4th. Jesse Winker was hit by a pitch with one out, and then Freddy Galvis singled to put two men on. Kyle Farmer had what was essentially a swinging bunt to move the runners up a base each. That turned the lineup over and Phillip Ervin followed with a 4-pitch walk to load the bases and run Brett Anderson from the game. Milwaukee went to their bullpen, bringing in Corbin Burnes to face Nick Castellenos with the bases loaded and two outs. Burnes came out ahead in this match up, going to a full count before a 97 MPH fastball at the knees went for a swinging strike three to end the threat.
Kyle Farmer got the offense going again in the 7th inning by drawing a bases loaded walk to start the frame. David Bell went to his bench to pinch hit for Phillip Ervin and Shogo Akiyama came through with a triple to make it 4-0 for the Reds. Joey Votto hit a ball into shallow center and after trying to tag up, Akiyama was thrown out at the plate by 6 feet to end the inning.
After a quiet 8th inning, the Reds threatened again in the 9th. Freddy Galvis and Kyle Farmer went down to begin the inning, but Shogo Akiyama walked and then Nick Castellanos was hit by a pitch in the shoulder on a fastball that got way too close to his head for comfort. But Joey Votto struck out on three pitches to end the threat and send the game to Raisel Iglesias for the bottom of the 9th.
The Pitching
Anthony DeSclafani was making his second start of the season and early on he looked good. He worked around a 1-out walk of Kestron Hiura in the 1st inning, struck out the side in the 2nd, and faced the minimum in the 3rd after a leadoff single was erased on a ground ball double play.
The middle three innings of the game were there for DeSclafani, too. In the 4th inning he got a 1-2-3 of Hiura, Yelich, and Morrison. The next frame was another 1-2-3 effort where he needed just seven pitches. The 6th inning started with a strikeout of Brock Holt and Orlando Arcia grounded out – but both went to full counts. Eric Sogard lined a single to right field that Nick Castellanos almost came up with on a sliding attempt. That ended a streak of 10 consecutive outs. The Reds righty came back to strike out Hiura to end the inning and preserve a 3-0 lead through six. That would end the night for DeSclafani, who fired out six shutout innings on just two hits and a walk.
Amir Garrett took the mound to begin the 7th inning to face the heart of the lineup for the Brewers. He struck out Christian Yelich on four pitches, then got Logan Morrison to ground out to shortstop for the second out of the inning. Garrett had to work to retire Avisaild Garia, but on the 7th pitch of the at-bat he locked him up on a 95 MPH fastball to send the game to the 8th inning and lower his ERA to 1.59 early on this season.
Michael Lorenzen came on to start the 8th inning and things just can’t ever be easy. Ben Gamel led off with a double to center field. Omar Narvaez came up next and singled to center to put runners on the corners. Brock Holt hit a fairly deep fly ball to get the Brewers on the board with a sacrifice fly. Lorenzen buckled down against Orlando Arcia and Eric Sogard, fanning Arcia and getting Sogard to fly out to send the game to the 9th with a 4-1 lead.
With a save situation present, David Bell went to Raisel Iglesias to try and lock things down. After a first pitch ball to Keston Hiura, Iglesias went 96, 89, then 97 for three straight strikes for the first out. Christian Yelich jumped ahead 2-0, but would ground out for the second out. Just like he began the inning, Iglesias finished it – with a strikeout, getting Logan Morrison to swing over three straight change ups.
Notes worth noting
Jesse Winker, who was hit in the elbow by a pitch in the 4th inning, was removed from the game. Travis Jankowski came in and moved into center, with Phillip Ervin sliding to left field.
David Bell said Winker will be fine, came out after HBP #Reds
— C. ???????????? (@ctrent) August 9, 2020
Joey Votto’s strikeout in the top of the 9th was only his second of the season. He’s had 52 plate appearances this year. Two strikeouts, 10 walks.
Anthony DeSclafani has thrown 11.0 shutout innings to start the year and has walked just one batter.
Up Next for the Cincinnati Reds
Cincinnati Reds vs Milwaukee Brewers
Sunday August 9th, 2:10pm ET
Sonny Gray (3-0, 0.96) vs. Brandon Woodruff (1-1, 2.08)
Always take a win for sure.
If we make it to the playoffs I think our pitching staff can take us all the way!
It’s possible, but the relief corps and the offense have to come around. The end-of-game relievers who have shown signs of reliability are Iglesias, Garrett and Sims. Another one or two who David Bell can rely upon must also prove themselves. Hopefully Lorenzen gets there, but right now, no.
Offensively, we hope for the return of Moustakas’ bat soon, and it would be nice to find some consistent production from the DH position.
But with the four starting pitchers the Reds can run out there at any foe, anything is possible.
Is Castillo our #4 now?
Woodruff is a tough cookie tomorrow. Sonny will need to be almost perfect.
Disco looks great! Heck of a #5 starter lol
Garrett and Iglasias look like they’re coming around. I thought Lorenzen looked better — but still not all the way there. We really need those three to be Nasty Boys 2.0. Let’s hope the bullpen struggles have been about timing and getting reps and not some deeper flaw.
Votto’s BABIP is .162 versus a career average of .347. If he regresses to his lean mean Vottomatic machine, he might bat .400. Let’s hope the balls start to drop in there. (I really hope we get to see Votto be Votto for one more season.
Oh, and shout out to Moose’s leadership. Apparently, the team FaceTimed with him before yesterday’s game and he gave them a pep talk — basically, to relax and have fun. Looks like that’s what they needed to here.
I appreciate Winker’s willingness to take a pitch to the elbow to get on base – he’s not even trying to get out of the way. And, when he was struggling, I can understand his temptation to “take one for the team” as a way to contribute. But, that shouldn’t be his game and he’s going to get himself hurt. I hope tonight’s HBP was just painful enough for him to learn his lesson.
That’s all I got…
What makes no sense to me about Votto is when he got a little better toward late August and September last year he said it was because he stopped choking up, and crouching so much but yet he is back to what wasn’t working last year.
I just accept that he knows a heck of a lot more about the baseball swing than I ever will.
His BABIP this year says he been super unlucky. Luck changes.
BABIP may be unlucky but when you hit weak ground balls into the shift I don’t expect it to get dramatically beter.
Cueto had 5 no-hit innings, before Pence lost a flyball for a triple
Would have liked to see Amir pitch 2 innings. Lorenzen might have been a better defensive substitution in right field.
Nah, Lorenzen needs the reps to get in sync. The Reds need him to be very good and very confident. He won’t get that on the bench.
Disagree. Other guys need to be able to get the job done too, and if Amir goes 2 innings yesterday, he’d likely be unavailable for the next couple of days.
My impression of this game is simply the defense looked really solid. No extra outs given…and very few walks. The Reds defense looked leagues better than the BREWERS…though that outfield assist to cut down Akiyama was pretty sweet. I don’t believe in jinxing…but as this is baseball…I won’t mention anything at all about how Desclafani looks right now. I hope that he stays as unhittable when the ump is more stingy with the zone. He just looked so in control of his stuff…
Sorry if I missed this, but when did Thom decide that he would end a Reds win with the same catch phrase as his dad? I don’t like it. He should be able to come up with something on his own.
I kind of like it. If he came up with an original it would be painfully goofy. And a nod to Marty isn’t bad.
Thom is why I choose to use the WLW audio when watching MLB.tv and I’m happy t have that option.
Just looked at the extended schedule and I’m a bit confused. 10 games against the Crew … 7 of which are in Milwaukee???
Good to See Lorenzen buckle down, and keep it at 1 run.
Probably needs more work, to get in sync (been an odd year).
Good overall effort by the pen 1 run in 3 innings.
Good chance to sweep the series.
GO REDS.
Happy to see them get back at it. String some W’s together, and try not to allow the L’s to pile up. Starting pitching has been awesome to watch. I think (hope) that Iglesias and Garrett are coming around too. Hopefully Stephenson will be back healthy soon and Lorenzen can figure it out.
Goofy season. Cubs and Pirates come to Cincy 7 times. We go to Milwaukee and St. Louis 7 times.
Only one manufactured run. Can’t live off the home run ball for offense.
MLB in general disagrees with you.