Joe Nuxhall Star of the Game
Josh Willingham. Willingham went 2-3 with a walk and a run scored, plus a number of nice catches in left.
Key Plays
- The Reds HAVOC'd themselves out of a big inning in the first. Jerry Hairston singled to lead off, then Willy Taveras popped up a bunt, preventing Cherry from running all out to second and he was forced out. Then Phillips singled, but was caught at second on the back end of a double steal, and Gomes flied out to end the inning.
- The Reds did get a run in the second when Alex Gonzalez singled, took second on a wild pitch, and scored when Adam Rosales scrappily made Ryan Zimmerman sail a throw 20 feet above Adam Dunn's head at first base.
- In the fourth inning, the Reds demonstrated all facets of OBP, when Jonny Gomes was hit by a pitch, Ramon Hernandez walked, and Jay Bruce advanced Gomes to third on a fielder's choice. Someone finally got on base via a hit when Gonzalez singled and scored Gomes. Reds lead, 2-0.
- The Nats finally got to Micah Owings in the sixth, when he gave up singles to Josh Willingham and Wil Nieves. Jared Burton came on in relief and promptly gave up a single to pinch-hitter Nick Johnson. The bases were loaded and Willingham scored on Christian Guzman's ground out.
- The offense was predictably meager, so the Reds had to win this game with pitching and defense. Both went begging in the eighth inning. Singles to Willie Harris, Anderson Hernandez, and Alberto Gonzalez loaded the bases, and Ryan Zimmerman hit a tough ball to Alex Gonzalez's right. Sea Bass snagged the grounder and threw to Phillips at second to get one out, but Alberto Gonzalez made a nice slide into the bag and forced a bad throw from Phillips to Rosales at first base. No double play, and two runs score. The Nats lead 3-2, and even though their bullpen is awful, no comeback would be forthcoming.
via FanGraphs
Other Notes
- The two first basemen in the game, Adam Dunn and Adam Rosales, had a combined 129 games experience at 1B previous to today. I, for one, was shocked to find out that Dunn had played 122 games at first.
- Cristian Guzman is making a strong case for inclusion into the Bill Hall All-Stars with this series. He went 5-15 with 2 runs, 2 RBI and a triple and a home run. The numbers don't seem so impressive, but Cristian Guzman?! Displaying power?! He also had a number of nifty diving stops that made me wonder when he got good. Prior to tonight, he had a 207 OPS+ against us this year.
- The Reds have scored 18 runs over their last seven games, an average of 2.57 runs per. With that anemic stretch, they are now 22nd in the Majors in runs scored. Come back Joey Votto!
- I caught a t-shirt thrown by a guy on a Segway. It had a bratwurst in it.
- The Reds are still only 1.5 games out of first. We owe the Colorado Rockies a gift basket, as they have swept consecutive series against the Cardinals and the Brewers.