Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game
Joey Votto: he went 2 for 5 with a double and a HR. Honorable mentions go to Jay Bruce, who went 3 for 4 with a double and a walk, and Jonny Gomes, who finished 1 for 1 with four walks, scoring four runs in the process. But nobody had a bad game offensively, with all of the starting position players getting at least one hit. Oh, and Travis Wood pitched beautifully until the seventh inning (after not giving up a hit until the sixth).
Key Plays
- Chris Heisey led off the game by getting hit by a pitch. After some shoddy fielding by the Cubs, Jonny Gomes walked and Jay Bruce doubled in two runs. Reds lead, 2-0.
- Ryan Hanigan and Paul Janish singled in the second inning; Heisey then hit a sac fly to score Hanigan. Reds up 3-0.
- In the third, Votto and Gomes walked, then Bruce singled to load the bases with no outs. Juan Francisco skied one to short right center which nobody bothered to catch. A run scored, though they did throw out Bruce at second on the play. Hanigan hit a sac fly to score another run. Reds up 5-0.
- A Votto double and walks to Gomes and Bruce resulted in two runs in the fifth on a Francisco groundout (that really probably should have been a double play) and a Hanigan sac fly. Reds ahead 7-0.
- Gomes walked again (reminder: he finished with four walks!) in the seventh, then Juan Francisco and Paul Janish singled to score him. Reds up 8-0.
- Wood came apart a bit in the bottom of the seventh. Jeff Baker led off with a home run, then Derrek Lee walked, Aramis Ramirez doubled, Marlon Byrd reached on a Francisco throwing error, and Xavier Nady hit a ground rule double to left before Wood was pulled out after only getting one out. Bill Bray threw a wild pitch but got a strikeout and a groundout to end the inning with the Reds still ahead 8-4.
- In the eighth, Cairo singled and then Votto homered to tack on two more runs.
- And finally, the Cubs defense struck once more in the ninth when Xavier Nady bobbled and dropped a pretty routine Cairo fly ball. He ended up on third with what was ruled a triple, and Chris Heisey (who had been hit by another pitch) scored from first on the play.
- Jordan Smith pitched two perfect innings to close this one out. Reds win, 11-4.
Other Notes
- Seriously, the Cubs defense was horrible today. They somehow only ended up with one error but they definitely should have had more, and they gave up several outs on infield grounders that they just took too long to field.