Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game
Edinson Volquez. The Wagon went 8 strong innings, only giving up one run and three hits. He also walked four batters, as is his wont, but the defense behind him bailed him out with four double plays. Honorable Mentions go to Miguel Cairo, Jim Edmonds, and Mike McClendon.
Key Plays
- First base appeared to be hexed tonight. Joey Votto was a late scratch with a sinus infection. Jim Edmonds moved there, and then pulled up lame with a right leg strain. But not before hitting a home run off of Dave Bush in the second inning. Johnny Gomes followed that with a single, and moved to second on Ramon Hernandez's groundout. Chris Heisey hit a little flare that landed just fair and out of the reach of Rickie Weeks and Corey Hart. Gomes was running on contact and scored easily. Reds lead, 2-0.
- With one out in the third inning, Orlando Cabrera stung a ball past Prince Fielder for an error and ended up on second base. Jay Bruce grounded out, but it sent Cabrera to third. Then Scott Rolen hit a double to bring around the shortstop. Replacement first baseman Miguel Cairo singled and Rolen scored. Reds lead, 4-0.
- Edinson Volquez was cruising, getting through 5 innings with just 49 pitches. Things got a little bumpy in the sixth though. After losing a run in the top of the inning because Cairo couldn't score on a ground rule double by Hernandez, Volquez walked Jonathan Lucroy to lead off the bottom of the sixth. Craig Counsell singled and Lucroy went to third, just like they do in Cincinnati. Pinch hitter Mat Gamel bounced into a double play, but Lucroy scored. Reds lead, 4-1.
- The Brewers bullpen was excellent, and the Reds couldn't extend their lead. As such, Volquez handed off the three run advantage to Francisco Cordero in the ninth. Coco gave up a leadoff single to Rickie Weeks, and coaxed a fly ball out of Corey Hart. Then he hit Ryan Braun with a pitch, bringing the tying run to the plate in the form of Prince Fielder. Cordero did an excellent job striking him out, but then gave up a single to Casey McGehee. That was bad enough, but the hard charging Jay Bruce booted the ball as Weeks scored. Braun went to third on Bruce's error, but then Bruce uncorked a wild throw to the plate. Cordero couldn't field it and the ball rolled to the backstop. Braun scored, and McGehee, the tying run, ended up on third. Nerve-wracking to be sure, but Cordero remained calm and struck out Carlos Gomez with some high heat to end the game. Reds win, 4-3.
Other Notes
- This was Dusty Baker's 1400th win as a manager. He has a .523 winning percentage, and with the win tonight has a .500 winning percentage with the Reds.
- Jim Edmonds strained his right leg and was limping noticably. If the injury is severe enough, then we can speculate that it might be enough to end his season and quite possibly his career. If that's the case, then his final hit was a home run, and two of his last three hits (as well as three of his six hits as a Red) were home runs.
- The Astros are eliminated from the NL Central race, leaving only the Cardinals as being mathematically able to catch the Reds. With the win in Milwaukee and the Cardinals losing in Pittsburgh, the magic number stands at 4. The division lead is 8.
- The Reds have committed nine errors in five games on this road trip.