The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game
Todd Frazier got off to a rather slow start this spring, but he's eschewed that in favor of mashing the bejeezus out of the ball over the past few games. He mashed a dinger against the Chicago White Sox to mark the second consecutive day he's dingered, and wrapped his day having gone 2 for 3 with a pair of runs scored and 2 RBI. It would certainly seem that the lower back issues that plagued him a week ago have passed, and that's allowed Toddy Boop to regain the power stroke we all saw throughout 2014.
Have a trophy, Todd.
Honorable Mentions are due to: Marlon Byrd, who smacked a pair of singles; and Nate Adcock, who tossed a clean inning from the bullpen.
Key Plays
- The middle of the order put the Reds on the board in the Bottom of the 2nd off White Sox starter Jose Quintana. Frazier and Byrd both reached on soft singles, the second of which moved Frazier up to 3B. Brennan Boesch then followed with a grounder to 2B that scored Frazier when Emilio Bonifacio booted it. Reds led, 1-0.
- Jason Marquis struggled to keep his previously excellent command in the Top of the 4th, and the White Sox pounced. A leadoff walk to Emilio Bonifacio haunted (as did a later one to Avisail Garcia) as Alexei Ramirez's double to the LF corner managed to score them both when Marlon Byrd had some issues fielding it cleanly. Reds trailed, 2-1.
- Marquis was again haunted by a walk - and a balk - in the Top of the 5th, as a leadoff free pass to Andy Wilkins and balk that moved him to 2B cost the Reds a run when Gordon Beckham followed with a double. Beckham then came in to score when Quintana helped himself with a slappy single over the head of Joey Votto that brough Beckham in to score. Reds trailed, 4-1.
- Jose Mijares took over for Marquis in the Top of the 6th, and he promptly served up a dinger to Geovany Soto. Reds trailed, 5-1.
- Todd Frazier continued his recent hot streak with a 2-run dinger in the Bottom of the 6th to get the Reds back in the thick of things, as he mashed a David Robertson meatball over the bullpen behind the LF fence after Brandon Phillips had taken a leadoff walk. Reds trailed, 5-3.
- The Reds got another run back in the Bottom of the 7th after gritting productively around the bases. Kyle Skipworth took a walk to lead things off, moved to 2B on a wild pitch from pitcher Jairo Asencio, motored to 3B on a deep fly out by Kris Negron, and scored on a sac fly from Chad Wallach. That got cancelled out in the Top of the 8th, however, as reliever Pedro Villareal served up a solo dinger to Courtney Hawkins that just cleared the wall over a leaping Kris Negron. Wilkins then followed with a double to the corner in RF, and Beckham then blasted a 2-run dinger of his own. Reds trailed, 8-4.
- Keyvius Sampson got in on the "let White Sox smash everything" train when he took the mound in the Top of the 9th, as a George Kottaras blast hit the top of the wall in RF for a double and he later scored on a single from Juan Diaz. The Reds' bats stayed packed in their last go-round, and that was that. Reds lose, 9-4.
Tony Graphanino
Other Notes
- With the ink fresh on his spot in the 2015 starting rotation, Jason Marquis allowed 4 earned runs on 5 hits and 3 walks over 5 innings pitched. He struck out just a single White Sox batter, but these stats mean exactly as much as the 9 sparkling innings he threw prior to today's efforts: zilch.
- The Reds get more confusing by the day. If you detect a pattern to what they're up to, please, let us know in the comments.
- Marty & tHom were on the mic in the radio booth again today. If you tuned in, you heard roughly 2 hours of videos you should look up on YouTube along with about a half-hour of Marty calling umpires "clowns." Tell me that MLB At-Bat subscription isn't worth every last penny.
- The Reds will host the Texas Rangers in Goodyear tomorrow, and Anthony DeSclafani will take the mound for the first time since being publicly confirmed as a member of the club's starting rotation. He'll opposed by Ross Detwiler, who you may remember as the Washington Nationals pitcher who served up a grand slam to Ryan Ludwick in 2012 one pitch after one of the worst missed strike calls I've ever seen. Now, they're teammates in Arlington. How cute.
- This game took over 3 hours to play and seemingly took 3 years off my life writing about it. Thanks, Manfredbama.
- Otis tunes.