Pain heals, chicks dig scars, glory lasts forever! Replacement Reds rough up the Astros

Joe Nuxhall Memorial Star of the Game

Jonny Gomes.  The recent callup was batting cleanup today and responded by going 3-4 with a walk and 3 RBI.

Key Plays

• Aaron Harang got off to a shaky start allowing a Michael Bourn single, and a home run to Reds-killer Lance Berkman.  Carlos Lee tripled, but Harang was able to strand him there.
• The seemingly punchless team backing up Aaron immediately came out and did something he'd never seen before: put up runs.  Taveras reached on error by Tejada, then Cherry bunted for a hit.  Dickerson walked to load the bases and Gomes singled up the middle to drive in Taveras.  Alex Gonzalez hit into a force out that scored Hairston, and Adam Rosales singled to left to score Dickerson.  Singles from Janish and Harang scored Gonzalez and Rosales, and all of a sudden the Reds had five runs off of a bunch of singles and shoddy defense.
• In the third inning, Lance Berkman doubled, seeming to foretell that tomorrow the sun would rise in the east.  He came around to score on a single by Humberto Quintero, who had replaced an injured Pudge Rodriguez.
• The Reds almost got the run back in the bottom half of the inning when Hernandez tried to score from second on a single by Aaron Harang.  He was thrown out easily, appearing to have run through Mark Berry's "stop" sign.  Chalk me up as skeptical that Berry wasn't sending the runner all the way.
• The Reds did score in the fourth inning when Cherry Hudson, Jr. singled, then went to third on a pickoff error by Quintero.  Jonny Gomes knocked him in with a single, giving the Reds a 6-3 lead in our Frisch's Big Boy Big Play of the Game.
• The Reds piled on in the fifth when Adam Rosales singled, Joey Votto walked, and Willy Taveras reached on an error by Miguel Tejada - the second time that happened in the game.  Hairston drove in Rosales with a gritty sac fly, then a walk to Dickerson and a walk to Gomes forced in the Reds' eighth run.
• Jared Burton made things close, allowing two runs to score in the sixth before getting Lance Berkman to fly out.

via FanGraphs

Other Notes

• The Reds started the game without Brandon Phillips, Joey Votto, or Jay Bruce.
• Jonny Gomes has hit safely in all four games since his callup, and is batting .429.  Carlos Fisher pitched two scoreless innings and has yet to allow a run in his brief time up.
• Lance Berkman has 47 home runs and a 1.150 OPS against the Reds in his career.
• Ivan Rodriguez was injured trying to block the plate when Adam Rosales slid into his knee in the first inning.
• Former Red Jeff Keppinger made his return to GABP, and went 3-3 with a walk and a run scored.  Okay, then.
• The game was delayed for two hours by rain, when there were two outs in the top of the fifth - one out away from being an official game.  Harang came back out after the delay to record the last out, thus qualifying him for the win.  He was immediately removed from the game.  Is it dumb to let your pitcher go back out after sitting around for two hours to effectively pad his stats?  Maybe, but at least now our staff ace has a winning record (5-4).  He also had a perfect day at the plate, going 2-2.
• Speaking of meaningless stats, Coco Cordero's 12th save ties him for the most in the majors, pending the results of tonight's games.
• Jonny Gomes had a nice sliding catch in foul territory to end the 8th inning.  He plays defense better than McDonald too.
• All of the Reds' runs were unearned.