Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game
Brandon Phillips. The key to wins in the time of T-Virus is Cancer, evidently. Phillips was 1-3 with a two run homer and 3 RBI. Honorable mention goes to Bronson Arroyo, who went 6.2 innings and only gave up two runs on two hits, striking out 7. His four walks weren't so great, though.
Key Plays
- The White Sox got the early lead thanks to a walk to Ramon Castro in the fourth, followed by Chris Getz's first home run of the season. 2-0, and recent history suggested this game was over.
- But Lee Corso cautions us to decrease the speed with which we make assumptions. Everybody put on their Mr. Redlegs heads as Laynce Nix and Ramon Hernandez hit back to back doubles to pull a run back in the bottom of the fourth.
- Ryan Hanigan tripled to lead off the fifth. The rout was on! Oh, except Paul Janish, Bronson, and Chris Dickerson couldn't bring him in. Nice job, Strand Landers.
- Oh, your second baseman hits home runs, does he? Check it. And your Jerry Hairston has been retired for twenty years? Well guess what! Cherry led off the sixth inning with a single (he didn't have to bunt someone else over) and Brandon Phillips hit his eleventh homer of the season to give the Reds a 3-2 lead, our Frisch's Big Boy Big Play of the Game.
- Phillips added a Great American Insurance Run with a sacrifice fly, following a double by Dickerson and a single by Hairston in the seventh inning.
- Good thing too. Coco Cordero gave up a big home run to Paul "We'll Stick With Sean Casey, Thanks" Konerko in the ninth inning. Fortunately, it was the first batter he faced, and he got the three outs to nail down the Reds victory.
via FanGraphs
Other Notes
- The top of the order went 5-10 with 3 runs, 3 RBI, and a stolen base. In unrelated news, we won.
- Bronson's seven Ks were the most he's had since Sept. 21, when he struck out 8 Brewers in six innings. But that day he also gave up six runs and the Reds lost 8-1.
- Despite a lot of swinging from his heels, this was BP's first homer in 53 at bats, since June 3.
- Prior to Nix scoring the 4th, Contreras had pitched 19.2 innings of scoreless ball.
- Bronson Arroyo now has as many wins as Johan Santana.
- What offensive drought? Five Reds players had multiple hits. Meanwhile, the White Sox only managed four hits, though two of them were home runs, and they did walk four times and stole three bases.
- Bill Clinton will be the keynote speaker tomorrow at a luncheon for the Civil Rights Game. No word on whether White Sox fan and president Barack Obama will be on hand for the festivities tomorrow.