Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game
Joey Votto. The All-Star (vote here!) went 3-4 with a walk, a double, and two home runs. There's no doubt in my mind that he would have reached base yesterday if he hadn't been ejected in the first inning, and today would have put his streak at 43 games. Alas. Honorable mentions go to Travis Wood and Jerry Meals, the home plate umpire. He conferred with his fellow umpires and reversed a strikeout call on Scott Rolen and instead awarding him first base for being hit by a pitch, which opened the gates to the breakout fifth inning.
Key Plays
- Joey Votto hit a home run off of Mike Pelfrey in the first inning. Reds lead, 1-0.
- The Mets responded with a two-out run of their own in the fifth inning. David Wright, Ike Davis, and Jason Bay all singled off of Travis Wood, who was making an emergency start when Aaron Harang had back problems. Game tied, 1-1.
- The Reds had two runners on in the second, and the bases loaded in the fourth, but couldn't score. It looked like it might be more of the same in the fifth inning. Brandon Phillips and Orlando Cabrera singled to open the fifth, and Pelfrey walked Votto to load the bases with no outs. Scott Rolen was then hit by a pitch, although he was initially ruled to have struck out. The umpires conferred and reversed the call, and Phillips trotted home with the forced in run. Jonny Gomes popped out and Jay Bruce struck out, and it looked like that might be all for the Reds. But Drew Stubbs laced a single to left field, and Cabrera and Votto scored. Then Corky Miller walloped a pitch into the right field corner for a double and Rolen and Stubbs scored. Travis Wood then smacked a ball to center and legged out a triple while Miller huffed and puffed home. Reds lead, 7-1.
- That hard running might have tired out Wood. He got in trouble right away in the bottom of the fifth, allowing a leadoff home run to Angel Pagan and a one out triple to David Wright. Ike Davis hit a dribbler that Wood couldn't field cleanly, and Wright scored. Jason Bay flew out, but with Wood one out from being in line to earn his first major league win, Jeff Francouer worked a walk. Dusty Baker went to the bullpen and brought in Jordan Smith. Smith immediately gave up a single to Rod Barajas and a double to Alex Cora, and the Reds lead was trimmed considerably. Reds lead, 7-6.
- Joey Votto hit his second home run of the game in the sixth inning, this time off of Fernando Nieve. Reds win, 8-6.
Other Notes
- Joey Votto's two home runs tonight give him 21 for the season and sole occupancy at the top of the NL leaderboard. He's tied with Jose Bautista for most in the majors. It was his fifth multi-home run game of his career.
- Jerry Manuel got ejected in the fifth inning, following the reversal of Rolen's call.
- Omar Infante went 0-4 with 2 strikeouts. Ryan Howard went 2-4, but both hits were singles.
- Omar Infante has a career .746 OPS against the Mets. Going into tonight's game, Votto's career OPS against the Mets was 1.016. It's higher now.
- The Reds now have a 2.0 game lead on the Cardinals, who were inactive tonight.