Cubs 5, Reds 4 - Kyle Schwarber schwarbed the heck out of Cincinnati

The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game

Raisel Iglesias is far from a finished product, but the rookie continues to flash the kind of movement on his pitches that makes thinking about his future in the Cincinnati Reds rotation drool-worthy.  Iglesias threw 5.2 innings of 2 ER (1 iffy) ball on Tuesday against the Chicago Cubs, and he struck out 8 before departing after throwing 112 pitches, and as he's shown multiple times in the past, his evening consisted of 4 lights-out innings followed by a few tired ones at the end.  Hopefully that's merely a product of him having not pitched much at all for the last few years and is something he can build on rather than a trait that's indicative of his overall ability.

Really, though, the star of the evening was Middletown native Kyle Schwarber, who blasted a pair of late homers to power the Cubs past the Reds in front of dozens of his friends and family.  That, I'll admit, was pretty cool to watch.

Honorable Mentions are due to:  Brandon Phillips, who went a tidy 2 for 5 with 2 runs scored from the leadoff spot; Brayan Pena, who went 3 for 6; Joey Votto, who went 2 for 6; Todd Frazier, who went 1 for 4 with 3 ribbies and a  walk; Billy Hamilton, who had a 2 hit evening after coming off the bench; and Dylan Axelrod, who threw 2 scoreless innings in his first appearance since being recalled again.

Key Plays

• The Reds benefited from some vintage defensive Cubbing in the Bottom of the 1st, and it helped them score the game's opening run.  Phillips led off the home half of the 1st with a single to LF, and he moved to 3B when Dexter Fowler erred fielding a Votto-hit liner to CF one batter later.  Frazier then lifted a sac fly to CF, and Phillips motored home.  Reds led, 1-0.
• Marlon Byrd reached to open the Bottom of the 2nd thanks to an effective challenge of a bang-bang play at 1B from Reds manager Bryan Price, and Byrd moved to 2B when Eugenio Suarez followed with a single of his own.  A Jason Hammel wild pitch moved Byrd to 3B, and that was beneficial when Skip Schumaker followed with a gritty grounder to bring home the Reds LF CF.  CF?  CF.  Reds led, 2-0.
• The Cubs finally put a run on the board against Iglesias in the Top of the 5th.  Iggy walked Addison Russell with one out, and that haunted when Fowler followed with a single and Kyle Schwarber hometowned a ground-rule double to CF that plated the Cubs 2B.  Reds led, 2-1.
• Ump Show met Manager Show met Bad Fan Show met Replay Show in the Top of the 6th, as a deep fly ball off the bat of Bill Hall All Star Chris Coghlan hit the yellow stripe atop the LF wall while nearly simultaneously hitting a fan with outstretched arms.  It bounced back onto the field and Coghlan was initially awarded a triple, but once Bryan Price and home plate umpire Fielding Culbreth had a decent conversation about how that happened - it should've either been a fan interference induced double or a homer - the umpiring crew spent about seven months reviewing the play.  Their verdict:  a home run, which was...well, it wasn't very convincing.  Game tied, 2-2.
• The Reds reclaimed the lead in the Bottom of the 7th thanks to the big bats in the order.  Phillips and Votto led off the inning with singles off former Red Travis Wood, and after Pedro Strop was brought on to face Frazier, Votto stole 2B and Frazier poked a single to LF that drove both runners in.  Reds led, 4-2.
• That part of the game was fun.  The Top of the 9th was not.  The Reds were without the services of Aroldis Chapman on the evening, though it wasn't because they'd wisened up and traded him during their sub .500 season.  It was because he'd pitched a metric ton of pitches over the last few days, and that left J.J. Hoover for the save situation.  Hoover's been nails so far this year, but he was not on Tuesday.  He allowed a single to Fowler to begin the 9th before Schwarber launched an eleventy billion foot dinger over the bullpen in RF that tied the game, 4-4.
• Roughly seven hours later, Schwarber launched a solo dinger off Nate Adcock in the Top of the 13th, and that proved to be the deciding run.  Reds lost, 5-4.