Navarro, Reds End Home Schedule with Walk-Off, Defeat Brewers 2-1.

The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game

Dioner Navarro gets the nod today for his game-winning triple in the bottom of the 9th. Navarro battled John Axford to a full count (including a few moon-shot foul balls), and finished off his at bat and the Brewers with a gap shot to right-center that scored Jay Bruce from first. Navarro has proven a valuable asset as a LH bat and timeshare catcher with Ryan Hanigan, and as today's performance by Mat Latos shows, he's become much more comfortable with calling games for this staff. I fully expect him to play well while a member of the Reds' playoff roster.

Latos, as I mentioned, was awesome again today, allowing only a solo HR to Carlos Gomez-Mitchell is Batflipman while cruising through 7 innings on only 89 pitches (exactly the kind of start he should get as we head to the playoffs). Latos fanned 3, walked one, and allowed only 3 hits on his day, lowering his season ERA to a smile-inducing 3.52.

Todd Frazier also deserves a mention for his 19th HR of the season. With 2 outs in the 9th, the Reds had mustered a mere 3 singles on the day, but Frazier crushed an Axford fastball way out to CF for his first wanker since August 21st. Here's to hoping it's just the first of many.

Key Plays

• Batflip McGee led off the Top of the 3rd with a HR to RF, his 17th of the season. Reds trailed, 1-0.
• Wily Peralta, generally considered the top prospect in the Brewers organization, showed his mettle today while throwing 5.1 innings of 2 hit baseball. He walked only 1 while striking out 6, but was forced to leave with what appeared to be a blister issue. The Brewers bullpen picked up right where he left off, including Axford, who K'd the first two batters he faced in the 9th. Fortunately for the Reds, however, Frazier's blast stopped that nonsense, and Bruce's single and Navarro's triple followed. Reds win, 2-1!

via www.fangraphs.com

Other Notes!

• Today's game was the final one at GABP for the 2012 regular season, and the Reds obviously ended it in style, walking off to finish at 50-31 on the season. Coincidentally, they also have 31 losses on the road (44-31 overall), so they could potentially finish with identical stellar home and road records.
  
• Joey Votto walked twice. Yawn. Despite missing much of the second half of the season, Votto still sits in second in the NL in walks with 88, just 3 behind league leader Dan Uggla's 91.
• Because Navarro kicked serious tail, I'll leave you with this.