Cueto aces, Reds take series from Cards. CIN 1, STL 0.

The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game

Once again, it's Johnny Cueto.

Once again, it's always Johnny Cueto.

Cueto shut down the St. Louis Cardinals for 8 innings this Thursday afternoon, striking out 7 and allowing just three singles and a walk. Thanks to some strategic saving from Aroldis Chapman and some timely late offense, he picked up his league-leading 18th arbitrary statistic of the season and could well get 20 things.

Honorable mention to Ramon Santiago for getting the game's only RBI and generally being the best possible utility infielder, non-Kris Negron division.

Key Plays

• Jay Bruce had a nifty home-run saving grab early on. That was neat.
• Not much happened until the bottom of the 8th.
• But oh, in that bottom of the 8th. BP walked and Jay Bruce singled BP to third because that's how it's done in Cincinnati. Ramon Santiago looped one to centerfield, where Jon Jay was playing in.
• The Cardinals traded for Peter Bourjos in the offseason to play CF since Jay really can't, but Borurjos has been going .246/.308/.375 and that meant Jay is still getting starts.
• Jay, if you'll remember, is the one who couldn't throw out Billy Hamilton on a pop-out early in the season.
• Jay remembered.
• Jay dropped Santiago's liner, allowing BP to score.
• Chapman shut the door with two strikeouts, and the Reds won 1-0.

FanGraph

Source: FanGraphs

Other Notes

• The Reds go to Miller Park tomorrow and Latos faces Milwaukee's Lohse at 8:15 p.m. ET.
• By my count, the Reds have 15 more games, which means that Cueto has 3-4 more starts.
• The Reds would need to go 12-3 to finish >.500
• My solution: Start Cueto Every Last Game of the 2014 Season
• Tony's got a doggy
• I just wanna be Johnny's bro.