The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game
Scott Rolen had the game-winner, an infield hit with an assist from Hanley, but Jay Bruce's two-home run day - complete with the game-tying homer in the bottom of the ninth - means he walks off with the JNMHSotG. Enjoy those two free steaks at Steak-ation, where it's "Two steaks and you're out... for a great night on the town." Honorable mention goes to Brandon Phillips (2-4, hit #1,000 in Red) and Aroldis Chapman (2 IP, 3 K, 0 BB, 0 ER).
Key Plays
- The Reds were on a hunt to keep the eggs off the scoreboard. They treated Carlos Zambrano to a "Volquez Brunch" and put up a crooked number in the 1st inning. Cozart, who has refused to let up since the beginning of spring, doubled in Brandon Phillips. RBI ground-outs by Bruce and Cairo made it 3-0.
- Despite Emilio Bonifacio's ability to steal bases at will on the Reds' pitching, Arroyo cruised through three. He gave up runs in the fourth and sixth inning, but did not allow an extra base hit until the 7th. The unearned run he allowed in the top of the sixth - a sac fly that brought in Hanley Ramirez - may never have scored if not for a previous throwing error by Ryan Hanigan.
- Only 6 innings of Goodroyo were budgeted. Bronson came undone in the 7th, hitting Greg Dobbs with a pitch to lead off the inning. A Chris Coghlan double and three earned runs later and Arroyo's day was done. Logan Ondrusek came in to get the final two outs and avoid any further damage.
- Aroldis Chapman pitched two innings, which can be interpreted any number of ways. I don't love it if they're going to call on him to be an all-out fireball reliever, but I do like it if he's not going to be reliever for too much longer. He gave up a triple to Jose Reyes that threatened to widen the gap, but but that was his only blemish.
- It was 5-4 Marlins entering the ninth, with Heath Bell coming on to nail it down. The Reds went hitless against Bell in 2011 over 10 PAs, reaching base only once via walk. They had seen him just last night and extended that streak to 0-13. The law of averages rose on Easter Sunday.
- Jay Bruce lead the inning off with a game-tying home run. After a fly-out by Miguel Cairo, Stubbs and Hanigan singled back-to-back to put Speedy Texarkana Slim at third. Scott Rolen, on his day of rest, hit in the pitchers spot and smacked one down the line - old thirdbaseman to new. Hanley had trouble fielding it while Stubbs came in to score. A walk-off on an infield single is stille a walk-off. Reds win, 6-5!
Other Notes
- Brandon Phillips recorded his 1,000th hit as a Red today. He's 83 PAs away from his 4,000th trip to the plate with the team. If he stays healthy, he'll play in his 1,000th game as a Red this season and record his 500th RBI.
- Bronson Arroyo was hittable today and didn't have a great outing in the final analysis, but this was also a far cry from 2011. He only allowed one extra-base-hit (a double) and no walks. Along with his 4 strikeouts, he comes out looking pretty fresh from a defense-independent pitching standpoint.
- The Reds were batting .000/.078/.000 against Heath Bell in 2011-12 entering today (13 PAs).
- Ryan Hanigan picked up his first hit of the season today. He picked a good spot for it. His ninth-inning single was the 3rd highest play on the leverage index at FanGraphs.
- Jay Bruce had a staggering 0.547 WPA. It's pretty hard to have that much single-handed influence on the game without throwing a complete game, which he could do if he wanted to but he doesn't feel like it so stop asking.
- Attendance was 23,539. I'm pretty sure that caps off a record-setting Opening series for GABP.