Marlins edge Reds, MIA 2, CIN 1

The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game

Not much to cheer about in this game for Reds fans.  Mike Leake pitched seven innings, giving up two earned runs on five hits, four walks and seven strikeouts.  One of the Marlins' runs came on a solo home run by Giancarlo Stanton, and there's certainly no shame in that.  Better pitchers than Leake have been victimized by Stanton's power.  The more I watch Leake pitch, the more I hope the Reds manage to hang onto him.  The guy's just a ballplayer.

Honorable mentions go to Todd Frazier, who had three hits and was robbed of a fourth on a fantastic catch by Stanton, and to Brayan Pena, who got a hit in his first at bat to extend his hitting streak to twelve, tying a career best for him.  J.J. Hoover also gets a honorable mention for his one inning, one hit and three strikeout appearance.

Key Plays

• Leake worked himself into trouble in each of the first three innings, but managed to keep the Marlins from scoring.
• The Marlins finally broke through in the top of the sixth inning, when a Casey McGehee double, a Garrett Jones walk and a Marcell Ozuna hit-by-pitch loaded the bases with one out.  Jarrod Saltalamacchia then hit a sacrifice fly to score McGehee.  Leake worked his way out of the inning with no further damage.  Marlins lead 1-0.
  
• An inning later, Giancarlo Stanton launched a truly massive solo home run to left field.  Marlins lead 2-0.
• In the bottom of the ninth, Todd Frazier led off with a double, and Devin Mesoraco followed up with a double of his own off of Marlins reliever Steve Cishek.  Marlins up 2-1.
• Ramon Santiago then bunted Mesoraco over to third.  Skip Schumaker grounded out to the shortstop for the second out of the inning, and Kristopher Negron drew a walk, bringing Zack Cozart to the plate.  Cozart struck out to end the game.  Marlins win, 2-1.

Fangraph

<iframe src="http://www.fangraphs.com/graphframe.aspx?config=0&static=0&type=livewins&num=0&h=450&w=450&date=2014-08-08&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=2014-08-08&team=Reds&dh=0&season=2014">FanGraphs</a></span>

Other Notes

• In this game, Mike Leake passed his previous single season career high of 122 strikeouts.  Leake currently has 126 strikeouts on the season with a good month and a half to go.  Congratulations, Mike.
• J.J. Hoover's third strikeout in the top of the ninth earned the fans free LaRosa's pizza, and earned him probably the biggest cheer he's heard all year.
• The Reds drew two walks on the night.  One was to Billy Hamilton to lead off the game, the other was to Kristopher Negron with two outs in the bottom of the ninth.
• Brayan Pena was removed from the game due to hamstring tightness after his hit in the second inning.  Here's hoping he's okay.
• <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>And that’s it… <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Marlins?src=hash">#Marlins</a> win 2-1, just as they did in Eovaldi’s last start against the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Reds?src=hash">#Reds</a></p>&mdash; ctrent (@ctrent) <a href="https://twitter.com/ctrent/statuses/497923147493281792">August 9, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
• Tune: no reason for this song, I just like it.