The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game
Edwin Encarnacion - 1 for 4, BB, HR, 4 RBI
It's hard to say who deserves this because everybody did something little, but Encarnacion's grand slam in the 3rd was awesome!
Key Plays
- The Brewers put one run on the board in the bottom of the first, but Jay Bruce tied it right back up in the top of the second with his first home run of the season.
- Edinson Volquez looked out of sorts in the bottom of the 2nd. After a single, a walk, and a single scored a run, it looked like he might get out of the inning by getting two straight outs. But then he inexplicably had the most obvious balk in the history of organized baseball and followed that up by serving up a 3-run home run to Corey Hart.
- After two quick outs in the third, the Reds put together an impressive rally. Yovani Gallardo walked Willy Taveras and Chris Dickerson. Joey Votto singled in a run and then Gallardo walked Brandon Phillips to load the bases. After Bruce was hit by a pitch to drive in a run, Encarnacion unloaded on the first pitch he saw and put the Reds up 7-5 with his first home run of the season.
- A JJ Hardy home run in the 5th made it a one-run game at 7-6.
- Francisco Cordero closed it out in the 9th for his 2nd save of the season.
Other Notes
- Edinson Volquez looked shaky for the second time this season. He struggled to get through 5 innings and probably should have been removed earlier. But, he got the win, so I guess that means he just knows how to win, right? I'm mildly concerned about his performance to this point. I'm not ready to panic with him, but he has been wilder this year than he ever was last season. And I have no data to back this up at this point, but I think Chris Welsh made a good point during the game that perhaps he is relying too much on his change to get outs and it's getting predictable. I'll try to look into it more in the morning.
- The Brewers can't feel good about this game. They left 12 runners on base and in a one run game, that's gotta hurt.
- The offense only managed 6 hits for the Reds, but it was enough to get the job done. Unlike the Brewers, the Reds only left 4 runners on base. They did draw 5 walks in the game, so I'm not going to complain, but I sure would like to see some more hits coming out of the bats.
- Fox Sports cut the feed in the 9th inning with the Brewers at bat. Terrible.