The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game

Homer Bailey. The game started off with shades of his only other outing at Citi Field (a disaster), but Old Hoss righted the ship and went 8 strong, giving up no home runs in the process. I'm starting to think there's been a homer effect on Homer's homers. Honorable mention goes to Jay Bruce who, despite the guff he's taken for not being clutch this season, produced three (3) 2-out RBIs on his 15th whip-saw of the season.

Key Plays

• Cozart and Valdez both reached base in the first. After a Votto K, the Reds were able to weather Dusty's boneheaded "Vottos must hit third" lineup construction methodology with a 3-run frappuccino off the bat of Jay Bruce.
• David Wright's Daily Double in the bottom of the inning scored Daniel Murphy.
• The Reds added an insurance run with a Ryan Ludwick RBI single in the 4th. To aid ratings for Fox's Baseball Night in Select Markets (credit: Gray), they kept the game within Chapman range.
• The Buena Wrist-a Crucial Sub came on in the home half of the ninth. He denied us a second strikeout and had me pounding the stress-ball by allowing his 25th baserunner of the season. Reds win, 4-1.

Other notes:

• As the FanGraph shows, the Reds were never less than a coin-flip from winning this game.
• With the exception of Harris and Bailey, every Red had one hit - and one hit only. In fact, no one on either team had a multi-hit game. SOCIALISTS!
• Joey Votto raised his OBP, but lowered his AVG. I don't know how to feel.
• Jay Bruce had faced Tim Byrdak, the pitcher who allowed The Boss' 2010 NL Central-clinching HR, 13 times before entering this game and had a 1.562 OPS. Byrd Man won this battle, striking out Bruce tonight.
• Jeff Brantley tied his personal best for "right down Broadway"s per inning with eleventy.
• The Reds are ten games above .500, a mark the 2010 team hit for the first time on May 29th. Tomorrow, they'll try to tie their longest winning streak so far this season.

Next up: Reds go for the sweep on Father's Day, 1:10. Johnny Cueto vs. Chris Young.