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Long night. Reds lose. CHI 4 CIN 3

By Andrew Shinkle
David Banks-USA TODAY Sports

The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game

I don’t know, Joey Votto? He had two hits, plus a run scored and an RBI from his solo home run in the fourth inning. But it seems like Votto is a pretty safe bet for JNMHS of the G honors on any given night, so let’s go with it.

Honorable mention is due to Ryan Matteus who pitched two scoreless innings, including the eighth, in which he somehow gave up two doubles and a single, and no runs. Now that’s an impressive feat.

Key Plays

  • After a quick first inning that featured some nice defensive work from both teams’ infields, Kris Bryant – who spells his first name the same way my wife does – singled for the Cubs’ first hit of the game. This was followed immediately by a Miguel Montero home run to put the Cubs up 2-0.

  • In the top of the fourth inning, Votto hit his 14th home run of the season, an opposite field shot to cut the lead in half. Cubs up 2-1.

  • The inning continued with a double for Todd Frazier, and then the TOOTBLAN monster showed up as he attempted to score from second on a two out infield hit by Kristopher Negron. Instead, he was caught in a rundown that ended the inning.

  • The Cubs got the run back almost right away, after a Bryant double and a Montero single led to runners on first and third with no out. Starlin Castro hit what appeared to be a tailor made double play ball thatEugenio Suarez elected to go for the play at the plate. Bryant was initially ruled out, but the call was overturned after review. Cubs up 3-1.

  • After the fifth inning, there was a rain delay that lasted nearly three hours, long enough for your humble recapper to stop caring about this game. And for added fun, upon its resumption it was not on TV outside the Cincinnati and Chicago markets, so due to baseball’s byzantine blackout rules, I wasn’t able to watch it anyway. So I don’t really know what happened from the sixth inning on, and the rest of this recap comes from Twitter and ESPN.

  • As soon as the game resumed, Skip Schumaker singled and Suarez homered to tie the game at 3-3.

  • Something happened in the Cubs’ eighth that involved a double and a pick off but I didn’t see it so it probably doesn’t count. There was another double, an infield single, and a double play in the inning as well.

  • In the bottom of the ninth, the Cubs had a double, a hit by pitch and a single to mercifully end teh game a mere five and a half hours after it started.  Cubs win 4-3.

Fangraph


Source: FanGraphs

Other notes:

  • Todd Frazier hit his 100th career double tonight. Congratulations, Todd.
  • Tonight was Joey Votto’s first home run against the Cubs since 2013.

  • Am I nuts or has the Reds bullpen gotten a lot better lately?  The end of this game notwithstanding, of course.

  • For those of us that live out of market, this game was incredibly irritating.
  • Tunes!

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