Giants 5, Reds 3 - Cincinnati loses to San Francisco in the middle of the morning

The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game

Newly promoted catcher Ramon Cabrera has wasted little time in establishing that he likes to swing the bat, and on Monday night against the San Francisco Giants, the Cincinnati Reds rookie had his bat working early and often.  Cabrera went 4 for 4 on the night, doubling once and scoring once, and in a game that featured one team that is striving for 2015 excellence, he boasted by far the best line by a player whose team sat twenty-some leagues under the playoff sea.

Honorable Mentions are due to:  Joey Votto, who walked twice and drove in a run (with one of those walks); Jay Bruce, who banged a 2-run dinger; and Pedro Villarreal, who threw a scoreless inning in relief that featured a pair of K's.

Key Plays

• Keyvius Sampson was hit from the start in this one, and an early error from Eugenio Suarez didn't help matters.  A single, E6, and double off Matt Duffy's bat resulted in a pair of runs in the Bottom of the 1st, and a 1-out Duffy double in the Bottom of the 3rd followed by a Brandon Belt triple cost the Reds another 2 runs in the Bottom of the 3rd.  That left the Reds behind, 4-0.
• The Reds only scored 3 runs on the night, which makes most every thing that happened after that not exactly "key," but I digress.
• Cabrera's 1-out double in the Top of the 5th eventually resulted in the Reds' opening run after Votto's bases loaded walk, and Bruce smoked his 2-run dinger in the Top of the 7th with 2-outs to make things interesting.  Unfortunately - or fortunately, depending upon how you view draft position at this point - the Giants added another run in the Bottom of the 8th, and that was that.  Reds lost, 5-3.