The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game
Eugenio Suarez hit a bit of a lull recently after his scorching hot start to the 2016 season, but the Cincinnati Reds 3B burst out of that in a big way on Wednesday. Suarez blasted a 2 run dinger, poked a 2-out single to score another, and laid claim to an impressive 3 for 4, 3 ribbie afternoon against Jake Peavy and the San Francisco Giants.
Suarez now owns a .269/.321/.471 line through 112 PAs, rate stats that I think each of us would be thrilled to see sustain for the remainder of the season. That 35 dinger, 100 ribbie pace wouldn't hurt to see, either. So, have another trophy, Henny, and keep convincing us that the offensive explosion is real.
Honorable Mentions are due to: Adam Duvall, who went 2 for 3 with a dinger, a walk, and a pair of runs scored against his former club; Dan Straily, who pitched seemingly better than his final line would suggest (3 ER in 6.1 IP); Zack Cozart, who dingered in his return to the lineup; Tony Cingrani, who threw 1.2 innings of SCORELESS RELIEF FROM THE BULLPEN; and Brandon Phillips, who singled & dingered.
Key Plays
- Brandon Belt got the dinger party started in the Top of the 2nd when he suspendered a hanging breaking ball off Straily for a laser line-drive solo shot over the wall in right-center. Reds trailed, 1-0.
- The Reds surged back in a big way in the Bottom of the 2nd, in the process tagging Jake Peavy with the first inning of his career in which he'd surrendered three dingers. Phillips blasted a solo shot to LF to leadoff the inning, and that was followed by a double to the RF corner off Bruce and Suarez's towering 2-run dinger to CF. Peavy then walked Duvall, but he rebounded to strike out both Ramon Cabrera and Straily to almost get out of the inning. The red-hot Cozart had other ideas, however, and he lined a 2-out, 2-run blast just inside the LF foul pole to cap the big inning. Reds led, 5-1.
- Cincinnati's middle of the order plated another run in the Bottom of the 3rd, though this was came via the non-dinger. Joey Votto led off with a double off the wall in straightaway CF, moved to 3B on a single by Phillips, survived an iffy BP TOOTBLAN, and scored two batters later on a Suarez single to left-center. Reds led, 6-1.
- Conor Gillaspie bought a seat on the dinger train in the Top of the 4th, blasting a solo job over the wall in RF, but Duvall tagged a solo dinger off his former team to return the favor in the Bottom of the 6th. Reds led, 7-2.
- Straily tried to get through the Top of the 7th, but he simply ran out of gas around 110 pitches. Back to back singles preceded a 1-out walk that both loaded the bases and chased the Reds' starter to the showers. Tony Cingrani was brought it, and the Giants countered with pinch-hitter Buster Posey in a scenario that gave Reds fans night sweats, flashbacks, and drinking problems. Cingrani got Posey to lift only a deep sac-fly, however, and a subsequent 4-6 putout ended the threat after just a lone run. Reds led, 7-3.
- There was once a thought that the Reds bullpen may not allow a run in this one, thereby ending their MLB record streak of having allowed a run in 21 consecutive games. Back to back doubles by Mac Williamson and Denard Span off Ross Ohlendorf in the Top of the 9th but those dreams in the woodchipper, but mercifully that was all the damage left on the day. Reds won, 7-4!
FanGraph that looks so foreign that Donald Trump wants to build a wall around it
Source: FanGraphs
Other Notes
- While Cozart made his return to the Reds lineup, Billy Hamilton started the game on the bench thanks to his sore thumb. Tyler Holt got the start in CF, though Hamilton came in as a LIDR in the 9th as part of a double switch.
- The four dingers allowed by Jake Peavy tied a career high.
- The Milwaukee Brewers will come to town for a four game weekend series, with game one's first pitch set for 7:10 PM ET on Thursday. Chase Anderson will take the mound for the Beers, with Alfredo Simon attempting to do literally anything positive while on the bump for the Reds.
- Tunes.