Sorry for the lateness of the recap. I fell asleep. You'd think the scintillating repartee in the game thread would have left me wide-eyed, but no.
Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game
Matt Maloney. The rookie earned his first major league win, and did it in gritty style by fighting through the pain caused by a blister on his finger. He went five innings, gave up two runs (same ERA as a quality start) and struck out three while walking one. Darnell McDonald had two hits, Jay Bruce had two RBI, and the bullpen pitched four scoreless innings.
Key Plays
- Darnell McDonald led off the game with a home run. WHOA! Doubles machine Paul Janish then hit a double, making everyone who said he shouldn't bat second look like a dope. Joey Votto and Scott Rolen both drew walks, and with two outs Jay Bruce hit an opposite field, bases loaded single to drive in two more runs. The Reds had three runs, and decided to take the rest of the night off.
- Maloney was generally outstanding, but began to run out of gas in the fifth inning as his pitch count crept into the 90s. Chris Coghlan doubled to start the frame, and took third on Nick Johnson's groundout. He scored when future-Red Hanley Ramirez singled, and Ramirez himself scored on a dubbla by Dan Uggla. Maloney got Cody Ross to foul out to end the inning, then hit the showers.
- The end.
via FanGraphs
Other Notes
- The Reds set a new record for second smallest attendance at GABP, with 9,685.
- Coghlan had four hits on the night, and leads all NL rookies with 136. Remember when we were hyping Ryan Hanigan for Rookie of the Year? Good times... Well he only has 63 hits. Clearly Dusty is right not to play him.
- Francisco Cordero got his NL-leading 38th save and his fourth save in as many days. He hasn't had a stretch like that since July 3-6, where he got three saves and blew the fourth but still earned the win.
- The Reds have won nine in a row over the Marlins at GABP.