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Table for Dinger, Party of 10. PIT 8, CIN 7.

DINGERS DINGERS DINGERS.

By Wick Terrell
Fun Police investigating.
Fun Police investigating.
Joe Robbins

The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Dinger Party

Todd Frazier went 2 for 4 with a superdinger and a pair of runs scored (both on dingers), and he finished up the game on Tuesday with a red turtleneck snazzy enough to earn him the JNMHSotDP.  Well flown to the moon, Mr. Frazier.

Honorable Mentions are due to:  Joey Votto, who walked once, scored twice, and donked a two-run dinger; Ryan Ludwick, who had a two-run dinger of his own; Devin Mesoraco, for dingering; and Nick Christiani, for being the only Reds pitcher to not allow a run in the game (and for picking a sweet university to attend).

Key Dingers

  • In the Top of the 1st, Andrew McCutchen hit a notadinger under the glove of Zack Cozart for a single that scored Starling Marte, who had halfdingered.  Reds trailed, 1-0.
  • Frazier dingered.  Reds led, 2-1.
  • Neil Walker dingered, and Gaby Sanchez saw Walker's dinger and tried to outdinger him.  Reds trailed, 3-2.
  • The teams then rolled through two innings of dinger-lull before Ryan Ludwick launched a dinger-with-a-friend in the Bottom of the 4th.  Reds led, 4-3.
  • Marte dingered to leadoff the Top of the 5th, and Travis Snider got his dinger on one inning after taking a ball to the face.  Reds trailed, 5-4.
  • Neftali Soto hit a halfadinger in the Bottom of the 5th - the first hit of his MLB career - and he scored when Joey Votto hit a dinger as big as his contract.  Reds led, 6-5.
  • J.J. Hoover relieved Homer Bailey for the Top of the 6th, and the Pirates banged two dingers before Hoover could throw his 4th pitch as Walker and Sanchez couldn't settle for just one dinger.  Reds trailed, 7-6.
  • Devin Mesoraco had seen the unsuccessful first two plate appearances of his evening sink his SLG dangerously close to 1.000, and that was obviously all the non-dingering he could take, so he dingered, too.  Game tied, 7-7.
  • Thanks to social media (probably), so many people found out about the dinger party and showed up to cause a ruckus, so the fun police were called in to shut the thing down before the Top of the 7th.  Cold, wet fun police.
...

...

  • Play resumed promptly at 5:30 PM on Tuesday, and both offenses (and the weather) looked as if they'd been up all night at a dinger party.  Sam LeCure - throwing fastballs at 85-86 mph - was brought on in a double switch to take the mound (with Ramon Santiago taking over at SS for Cozart), and he allowed a halfadinger to McCutchen and a subsequent quarterdinger to Russell Martin that brought him in.  The Reds slogged frozenly through their three half innings on offense, and that was that.  Reds lose, 8-7.

FanGraph Showing the Effectiveness of Quick Dinger Blasts on WPA


Source: FanGraphs


Other Notes

  • Homer Bailey had a weird night.  He struck out 9 and didn't walk anyone, yet four of the dingers launched were off of his pitches.  Bailey entered the game with a career ERA in GABP a full run higher than his career road ERA (4.77 to 3.77) and, well, that gap got bigger.
  • There were four people in the stands to watch the finish of this one.  They all looked really, really cold.
  • Having this game be postponed for a day cost me any shot at a dig at US Airways' Twitter feed.  I feel slighted.
  • Post Game 1 Pre Game 2 tunes.

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