Swagless. Pirates 4, Reds 1.

Welp.

The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game

Todd Frazier hit a solo doinkjoist to provide the Reds with their only run of the evening, so the Toms River, NJ native gets the nod this evening.  Frazier's 19th HR of the season - a new career high - was all the Reds could muster against A.J. Burnett and Jason Grilli, and the rest of the offense fell into the predictably stagnant rut they seem to wallow in roughly once every four games or so.

Sigh.

Honorable Mentions are due to Alfredo Simon, Logan Ondrusek, and J.J. Hoover, who combined to toss 4 innings of shutout baseball following the disappointingly wild start from Homer Bailey.

Key Plays

• Bailey's uncharacteristic wildness first bit him in the Top of the 3rd, when he led the inning off by hitting Starling Marte in the back.  Marte and his bionic hand took first on the HBP, stole 2B with one out, and scored along with Andrew McCutchen later in the inning on a 2-run single from Marlon Byrd that just got past the glove of SS Zack Cozart.  Pirates led, 2-0.
• Frazier got funky in the Bottom of the 4th to narrow the gap, however.  Frazier laser'd one on a rope down the LF line, clipping the fair pole on it's way out.  Pirates led, 2-1.
• In the Top of the 6th, Homer's evening got even worse.  Byrd destroyed a fastball to left-center that just managed to stay in the park after hitting off the yellow line on the top of the wall and bouncing back in play for a double.  Bailey was left in to face Pedro Alvarez and, well, that didn't go so well.  Vandy Vandy'd one, and Homer's night was done with his team in a 4-1 deficit.  Burnett tightened his grip, mowed through the Reds' lineup, and that was that.  Reds lose, 4-1.

FanGraph Section that Wants Tuesday to Get Here Sooner than Later

<iframe src="http://www.fangraphs.com/graphframe.aspx?config=0&static=0&type=livewins&num=0&h=450&w=450&date=2013-09-27&team=Reds&dh=0" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" height="450" width = "450" style="border:1px solid black;"></iframe><br /><span style="font-size:9pt;">Source: <a href="http://www.fangraphs.com/livewins.aspx?date=2013-09-27&team=Reds&dh=0&season=2013">FanGraphs</a></span>

Other Notes

• Crap.
• The St. Louis Cardinals are currently up 6-0 on the Chicago Cubs in the 6th inning of their game, and a win for them tonight would clinch the NL Central title.  Great.
• Aside from Frazier's HR, no other Red had an extra base hit.  In fact, no Red managed to reach 3B tonight other than Frazier.  Grand.
• The Reds now need to win both of their remaining games against the Pirates to earn home field advantage in Tuesday's one game playoff.  Groovy.
• Tunes?  Tunes.
• Mas tuneage.
• I'm not sure if there were enough Reds fans there tonight for Ryan Ludwick to hear the boos after his 0 for 4, K, GIDP evening.  Dude can be angry if he wants, but he's sure not angry and playing well right now, that's for sure.
• Ube.  Blergh.  C'mon, Reds...losing 3 in a row at a time like this is making me worried those champagne bottles I bought are going to clog up my fridge until 2014, and I've got bread and milk that needs space, yo.