Cincinnati Reds lost again, this time to the San Francisco Giants 5-3

The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game

Joey Votto went 2 for 4 with a walk and 2 runs scored, and it's way too late to read past #3 in the box score to pick a different honoree from the Cincinnati Reds this evening.

Honorable Mentions are due to:  Brandon Phillips, who went 2 for 4 with a ribbie; Todd Frazier, who walked twice; Skip Schumaker, who went 3 for 4 with a double; and Ryan Mattheus, who tossed 1.2 innings of non-awful baseball from the bullpen.

Key Plays

• Jake Peavy hit a homer off a Collin Balester pitch at some point in some inning of this game.  Peavy is a pitcher, an ancient one with shoulders currently composed of Play-Doh and pasta sauce.  If we are to adhere to the most literal of terms regarding what plays were "key" in this here twenty-seven out affair, that's probably both the alpha and omega.  For brevity's sake, if nothing else.
• Peavy is, however, a San Francisco Giants pitcher, and that carries weight.
• The Reds doubled rather often from that point, but they still lost, 5-3.

Tony Graphanino

Source: FanGraphs

Other Notes

• I'm increasingly baffled by the Reds' decision to develop Michael Lorenzen as a big league starting pitcher at - primarily, at least - the big league level.  He was drafted two years ago as a CF who many (me included) thought was better suited to be an OF at the MiLB level than a pitcher in any role, since all he'd done to that point was occasionally close with mostly  his fastball doing the work.  That the Reds chose to put him on a SP track isn't surprising given the quality of his arm, but that they opted to move him quicker than established, experienced, and highly touted prospect arms just begs for a good ol' headscratch, however.  I'm not kidding when I say that I'm seriously worried that the Reds may have botched his development with their aggressiveness, much akin to the way Brandon Finnegan spoke to the Kansas City Royals' use of his arm after he was drafted just last June.
• Hindsight is a hell of a drug.  Also, my ass and my elbow are right next to each other, for all I'm aware of.
• Conveniently enough, the Reds announced earlier on Wednesday that each of Lorenzen and Raisel Iglesias would be effectively shut down from their starting roles for the remainder of the 2015, with Keyvius Sampson a possible third inclusion in that plan.  Taking at least two of those places in the rotation will be Finnegan and Josh Smith, with the third spot in the rotation a smokin' hot mystery.  My guess:  a rookie.
• Lorenzen saw his night end after just 3 IP.  He threw 54 pitches, allowed 3 ER, 6 H, a walk, and struck out a single Giant.  Prior to Wednesday's performance, FanGraphs had him as the 3rd least valuable pitcher in all of baseball of the 130 who had thrown at least 100 innings.
• Thursday is an off-day.
• Tunes.