Bottom( of the Order)'s Up! Reds win 4-2

The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game

Chris Heisey went 3-3 with a walk and two incredible catches to keep the Cubs in check. He's been delegated a bit recently with Ludwick's, well, not resurgence but certainly some sort of surgence. It was nice to see him hit balls hard and run balls down.

Honorable Mentions to Ramon Santiago went 3-4 with a double, an RBI, and what should've been another RBI. He's hitting great these past few days. Jay Bruce hit a 2-run home run that was essentially the difference of the game, and Billy Hamilton, who went 2-4 with a double and two stolen bases, giving him 37 (as many as the Cubs team).

You know the trope of "it was quiet...too quiet"? That's how I bet opponents feel facing Johnny Cueto. He's just a stealthy panther, chomping his way through the batting order and quieting things down in an already-quiet afternoon. If you see Johnny's changeup, it's too late. If you don't see Johnny's changeup, you may be only moments away from death. His 6.1 IP, 6H, 2ER, 1BB, 4K doesn't do him justice. Also, Jumbo Diaz's perfect inning with 2 strikeouts was much-needed and he's been impressive since his shaky debut.

Key Plays

• Today started where yesterday left off. Billy Hamilton got aboard on a beautiful bunt single. Frazier grounded out, but a BP seeing-eye single got Hamilton home. Bruce then hit a(nother) monstrous home run off of a lefty to make the score 3-0. Heisey walked and Santiago lobbed a single, but they were left on base as the Reds brought up 8 batters in the 1st and went up 3-0.
• Johnny Cueto had the bases loaded on a walk, HBP, and single in the third. He got out of it unscathed, though.
• Chris Coghlan led off the sixth with a homer to RF. I'm really starting to dislike whoever he is. Things were exacerbated by a Ryan Sweeney home run. Ugh. 3-2.
• However, Heisey got on base for his third time in the bottom of the sixth. He then stole second and boogied on to third on a throwing error. Ramon Santiago singled to bring him home and tally his SECOND RBI of the year.
• Johnny Cueto let up three singles in the top of the seventh, but Manny Parra was there to shut the door. He let up a single in the eighth, but Jumbo Diaz shut that door. The Reds' bullpen did a great impression of a girl done wrong walking out of that no-good man's life once and for all, generally speaking.
• Chris Heisey got on base AGAIN in the eigth with a single. Ramon Santiago than crushed a double into the corner, but Schierholz -- who is essentially the lefty-hitting Heisey -- got Heisey with a great throw. I'm starting to really get amused by these creative ways Santiago gets RBIs stolen from him.

Fangraphs

Source: FanGraphs

Other Notes

• Another game's up in 3 hours. Watch soccer until then.