Cain pains, BP pops champagne, Cozart ruins bullpen: Reds win 7-3

The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game

Brandon Phillips blasted a 2-run dinger in the Top of the 9th off Giants' closer Sergio Romo to give the Reds a 2-1 lead, and that was certainly jazzy enough to give BP another JNMHSotG trophy for his burgeoning trophy case.  The good guys entered the Top of the 9th having failed to muster much of an attack against Matt Cain & Co., but Phillips busted that all apart with a 9th inning blast that changed the game. BP went 2-4 with a walk, but his dinger proved to be the biggest by a Red all night, which is oh so worthy.

Honorable Mentions are due to:  Alfredo Simon, who tossed a pretty great game tonight, allowing just 3 hits and a single run over his 7 innings pitched; Jay Bruce, who went 2 for 4 with a pair of singles; and Billy Hamilton, whose 3-hit night will allow him to wake up with a batting average over .280 tomorrow for the first time in 2014.

Key Plays

• The San Francisco Giants put their first and only run on the board in the Bottom of the 5th thanks in large part to a single from Brandon Crawford and a subsequent double from Adam Duvall.  Crawford's knock came with one out, Duvall followed him and resulted in there being runners on 2B & 3B, and Crawford scored when Joe Panik's grounder was knocked down (but not fielded perfectly) by Simon and the Reds took the sure out at 1B.  Reds trailed, 1-0.
• A few Cincinnati chances went by the wayside as Matt Cain scattered 6 hits over his 7 innings, but the tide turned for the Reds when Sergio Romo took the mound for the Giants in the Top of the 9th.  Joey Votto took a leadoff walk from Romo, and Phillips promptly mashed a dinger a solid 12 rows deep into the LF seats at AT&T Field for the go-ahead runs.  Reds led, 2-1.
• Aroldis Chapman was brought in for the 4th consecutive game, and while his velocity was still otherworldly, his command was not and the Giants pounced.  Hunter Pence singled to lead off, Pablo Sandoval walked afterwards, and a pinch-hit double to the wall from Buster Posey plated Pence to tie the game.  That left runners on 2B & 3B with nobody out, but Chapman [Wick cut off here but I'm gonna guess that Mr. Pitchy shut the door since I saw the Reds bat in the 10th].
• Into the eleventh. Joey Votto led off with a first-pitch double down the LF line. BP was intentionally walked, and then Jay Bruce...bunted, to move the runners up to second and third. That led to a Mesoraco IBB as both managers were really proud of themselves. Of course, that mean that the Reds gave up Bruce/Mes with no out for Santiago/Cozart. This strikes me (and a few others) as quite silly. Santiago struck out, surprise surprise. But Cozart lined one up the middle to ding up Ralph Jean Machi for a couple runs, and then Chris Heisey rocked a triple to bring home a couple others. Billy Hamilton had a double to bring home Heisey. 7-2 Reds. Ruin their damn night, Cincinnati.
  

FanGraph

Source: FanGraphs

SuperGrover Memorial Commentor of the Game

Torrey's Tacos, an A's fans, weirdly promised to see a man about a horse in the 11th. Boasting the sig line "GOOD THINGS HAPPEN WHEN I TAKE A POOP," well, good things happened. So, props to you, Torrey's Tacos.

Other Notes

• Jay Bruce has now collected multiple hits in 4 straight games, at least one hit in 9 straight games, and 17 hits in his last 11 games.  His season line now sits at .249/.336/.427.  That's pre-May Bruce high and rising.
• Joey Votto's left knee/quad doesn't look anywhere close to 100%.  He seems to be swinging with no back leg strength whatsoever.  Dang.
• 4:05 p.m. ET tomorrow, as Homer Bailey takes on Timothy Hudson. Should be a good matchup, even if both teams are toast after this slog.
  
• Some Juanes (and some Colombian women) in honor of James.
• For tomorrow's matches, well, I don't know any good Costa Rican music, nobody's rooting for Greece, and Netherlands is just some Armin Van Buuren shit. So let's listen to that song that I learned in 7th grade to learn Spanish, Mi Primer Milllon.