Reds 11, Cardinals 0 - Frazier, Phillips bonk St. Louis pitching to fuel Cincinnati offense

The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game

Todd Frazier had a monster night against his NL Central rivals, as the Cincinnati Reds 3B went 3 for 5 with a double, dinger, 3 ribbies, and 3 runs scored against the front-running St. Louis Cardinals.

Frazier has struggled mightily since the beginning of July, but tonight he logged his 40th double of the season, and he's finally starting to look like he's got some confidence behind his bat for the first time in well over a month.

Have a trophy, Todd, and a #highfive towards this being the start of another hot run between now and the end of the season.

Honorable Mentions are due to:  John Lamb, who tossed 5 scoreless innings while striking out 6 and allowing just 3 hits (albeit with 6 walks that drove up his pitch count early and often); Jason Bourgeois, who had a hit, 2 walks, and scored twice; Brandon Phillips, who honked a dinger & drove in 3; Eugenio Suarez, who had 2 hits; and Joey Votto, who bounced back from his epic outburst on Wednesday evening to have one of those ho-hum, prototypical Joey Votto kind of days (2 for 4, a walk, a double, a ribbie, and a run scored).

Key Plays

• Cincinnati loaded the bases in the Bottom of the 2nd after a Frazier single, Jay Bruce fielder's choice, Eugenio Suarez single, and walk by Tucker Barnhart.  Lamb then poked a productively slow grounder to Jhonny Peralta at short, and that brought in Bruce.  Reds led, 1-0.
• Bourgeois and Votto were behind the Reds second run, as the former walked to begin the Bottom of the 3rd and the latter moved him to 3B with a single.  BP then brought home the runner with a ground-out to Jhonny Peralta at short.  Reds led, 2-0.
• In the Bottom of the 5th, Billy Hamilton led off with a single (!!) and Bourgeois walked behind him.  Lo and behold, what has routinely been "2 out, nobody on" for Joey Votto was actually "2 on, nobody out" for Joey Votto, and the Reds slugger delivered.  After barely getting out of the way of an errant high & tight 0-2 fastball from Jaime Garcia that nearly clocked him in the noggin, Votto worked the count and then smoked a double off the wall in the LF corner that scored Hamilton.  Boozwah moved to 3B on the play, and he scored a batter later on a sac fly off the bat of Phillips.  Frazier then smoked a double to the wall in left-center to bring in Votto, and after Frazier moved to 3B on a wild pitch from reliever Randy Choate, Bruce brought him in with another sac-fly to CF.  Reds led, 6-0.
• Phillips smacked an opposite-field dinger in the Bottom of the 7th, though he lucked out a bit when a leaping Jason Heyward saw the ball bounce out of his outstretched glove and fall over the fence.  An error, walk, and fielder's choice later, Skip Schumaker stepped to the plate and bonked a pinch-hit double over a pulled-in OF, which scored a pair.  Reds led, 9-0.
• Frazier's blast got the Reds into double digits in the Bottom of the 8th, as he bonked a 2-run shot after Ivan De Jesus began the inning with a double to LF.  The Cards bats stayed silent after that, and the Reds won, 11-0!