His name is Jay. To see him play will make you say, "God damn, that RF made my day!" Reds win, 7-1.

Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game

Jay Bruce.  He's Mr. Opportunity, and he's knockin'.  Balls out of the yard, that is.  Bruce went 3-3 with three runs scored, five RBI, and a walk.  Oh yes, and all three hits were home runs.  Matt Christopher is already furiously at work on a sequel - "The Boy Who Only Hit Homers And Worked 9 Pitch Leadoff Walks."  Honorable Mentions go to Johnny Cueto for 8 innings of 1 run ball (plus 8 Ks and 0 BBs), Chris Valaika for hitting his first career home run and double, and Drew Stubbs, who joined Bruce in the Multiple Multi-Base Hit Club with two doubles.

Key Plays

• Tom Gorzelanny walked Jay Bruce to lead off the game, but Bruce then got caught stealing (bark, bark, bark.  bark, bark. bark, bark, bark.).  That was really selfish of him, because Chris Valaika then hit a double and would have had his first RBI.  But Joey Votto picked up the rookie by hitting a single and letting him score the first run of the game.  Reds lead, 1-0.
• Jay Bruce homered in the third inning.  Reds lead, 2-0.
• Johnny Cueto was mostly masterful in this game, but his one hiccup came in the fourth inning.  With two outs, Xavier Nady singled, and then Tyler Colvin doubled to deep right center.  Nady scored, and the foolish fan might have surmised that they had a game on their hands.  Reds lead, 2-1.
• Drew Stubbs doubled to lead off the fifth inning, and then showed Bruce how things are done by stealing third.  He stood there, chuckling smugly to himself as Paul Janish walked and Johnny Cueto sacrificed him to second.  Then Jay showed Drew how things are really done by hitting his second home run of the game.  Chris Valaika, taking quick notes, also homered, then asked, "Is that right?"  Yes it is, Chris.  Yes it is.  Reds lead, 6-1.
• Jay Bruce homered off of Scott Maine in the seventh inning.  Reds win, 7-1.

via www.fangraphs.com

Other Notes

• Jay Bruce joins Drew Stubbs and Joey Votto as teammates that have three home runs in one game against the Cubs.
• The game took just 2 hours and 14 minutes to play.
• Bruce has 8 home runs against lefthanders this year (156 AB!), and 8 home runs against righthanders (342 AB).
• Bruce's 5 RBI matched a career high.
• The Reds magic number is 32.  Very appropriate, given the night enjoyed by #32.