Reds offense wakes up CIN 13 MIL 4

The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game

Tough choice today, but not for the usual 2014 reasons. In this game, there are too many players to choose from rather than too few. The offense showed up in a big way to lead the Reds to another series win against the front running Brewers. But I’ll give the nod to Ryan Ludwick, since he scored two runs on four hits, including three doubles, a career high for him.

Honorable mentions go out to Billy Hamilton, who had three hits, including his fourth home run on the season, Todd Frazier for his two hit, four RBI day, and to Jay Bruce, who, despite only getting one hit and scoring only one run, made a fantastic defensive play in the third inning to prevent a big Brewers inning from being even bigger. Like I said, lots of choices today.

Also deserving of an honorable mention is the Reds bullpen. Manny Parra, Sam LeCure and Tony Cingrani combined for four innings of scoreless baseball, giving up one hit and one walk between them.

Key Plays

• The Reds got started early today, as Hamilton led off the game with his fourth home run of the year. I’ll be honest: I didn’t think he’d hit four home runs this entire season.

• Still in the first inning, after a Frazier out, Joey Votto singled and Brandon Phillips launched his fifth home run of the season to put the Reds up 3-0.

• Mike Leake worked himself in and out of trouble all day, but kept the Brewers off the scoreboard through the first three innings. He was not so lucky in the fourth, however. Carlos Gomez led off the inning with a single, but was doubled off after a fantastic catch and throw by Bruce. With two outs, though, the Brewers scored three runs on a Khris Davis single, a Mark Reynolds double, an intentional walk to Jean Segura, a Marco Estrada RBI infield single and a Scooter Gennett two RBI double. Tie game, 3-3.

• The Reds answered right back, though, with a Hamilton single to lead off the top of the fifth inning, followed by a Frazier line drive home run to put the Reds back up, 5-3.

• Not to be outdone, Jonathan Lucroy led off the bottom of the fifth inning with a solo home run off Leake. Reds lead 5-4.

• The Reds offense exploded in the eighth inning, sending ten batters to the plate and scoring five runs on six singles, a Votto bases loaded RBI walk and a sacrifice fly, putting the game out of reach. Reds lead 10-4.

• In the ninth, the relentless Reds tacked on some insurance runs A Ludwick double, Mesoraco single and a Zack Cozart ground out scored Ludwick. Reds lead 11-4. Later in the inning, Frazier launched a near home run that wound up as a mere two run double, putting the Reds up 13-4.

Fangraph

<iframe src="http://www.fangraphs.com/graphframe.aspx?config=0&static=0&type=livewins&num=0&h=450&w=450&date=2014-06-15&team=Brewers&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=2014-06-15&team=Brewers&dh=0&season=2014">FanGraphs</a></span>

Other Notes

• Until today, the Brewers had not lost a series in their last seven, with five series wins and two ties.

• Every Reds position player who played in this game had at least one hit on the day. Also, according to the Reds’ twitter account, every spot in the lineup scored at least one run.

• The Reds notched a season high 19 hits on the game.

• Votto’s walk in the eighth inning that forced in a run was the Reds’ only walk on the day.

• The Reds are now 5-2 against the first place Brewers on the season. However, the teams will meet twelve more times this year.

• TUNE!