Reds 4, Pirates 3 - Raisel Iglesias made it past 5 innings to lead Cincinnati past Pittsburgh

The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game

Raisel Iglesias has made a habit of breezing through opposing lineups a time or two before running smack dab into a wall of runs, but on Saturday the Cincinnati Reds rookie managed to mitigate much of that past history in his start against the Pittsburgh Pirates.  Iglesias tossed 6.2 innings of 2 ER ball, struck out 5, walked just 2, and allowed just 4 hits in his outing, and he flashed the repertoire of a versatile starter throughout.  Who knows how much more development he's got, but he certainly has the kind of tools that make you drool when thinking of his next 6 years as a Red.

Honorable Mentions are due to:  Marlon Byrd, who went 2 for 3 with a triple*, 2 runs scored, and a plunking; Eugenio Suarez, who had a 1 for 2 evening that featured a double, a pair of sac flies, and 3 ribbies; Jay Bruce, who doubled twice, scored, and drove in his 60th run of the season; Brayan Pena, who singled twice; and Billy Hamilton, who singled and stole his 50th and 51st bags of the season.

Key Plays

• The Reds scratched across the game's opening run in the Bottom of the 2nd, as Byrd's triple* landed in front of Andrew McCutchen in CF after the former MVP took an uncommonly poor route to the ball, and the Reds LF later scored on a Suarez sac fly.  Reds led, 1-0.
• That lead held until Jung Ho Kang launched a doozy of a dinger over the wall in left-center, a solo shot that evened things at 1-1.
• Suarez put the Reds back on top with an RBI double to the corner in LF in the Bottom of the 4th - again driving in Byrd - and Bruce doubled in a run of his own in the Bottom of the 5th (when he followed an earlier Brandon Phillips single).  Reds led, 3-1.
• A deflected single up the middle from Travis Ishikawa got the Pirates a run in the Top of the 7th, as it scored Neil Walker, but the Reds once again got a run back on a Suarez sac fly in the Bottom of the 8th that scored Bruce after his 2nd double.  Reds led, 3-2.
• That brought in Aroldis Chapman for the Top of the 9th, and while the Reds closer normally makes mince-meat out of the opposing lineups, that wasn't exactly the case on Saturday.  He yielded a pair of seeing-eye bloop singles, walked another Pirate, and let one run score, but he manage to salvage a save by striking out Starling Marte to end the threat.  Reds won, 4-3!

Tony Graphanino

Source: FanGraphs

Other Notes

• Todd Frazier's 2015 OBP:  .326.
• Jay Bruce's career OBP:  .325
• Todd Frazier is 29.  Jay Bruce is 28.
• Joey Votto followed his 4 walk evening on Friday with a 3 strikeout evening on Saturday.  He'll hit a pair of dingers tomorrow, though.
• Keyvius Sampson will make his starting debut tomorrow in the series finale.  Sampson got his big league feet wet with a scoreless inning in relief on Thursday, but tomorrow he'll get to take the mound as an MLB starter for the first time in his career.
• Tunes.