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The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game
Well, foot.
Brandon Finnegan was largely awesome against a Los Angeles Angels lineup that featured neither Mike Trout nor Albert Pujols on Wednesday, but their absences shouldn't dock Finnegan's overall solid performance. The young lefty allowed just 2 ER in his 7 IP, striking out 9 against just 5 hits and nary a walk allowed, and again showed that when his off-speed pitches are located well, he's capable of being a damn effective big league starter.
On a night where nary another Cincinnati Reds player really caused much damage, that gets the nod.
Honorable Mentions are due to: Ramon Cabrera, who was the lone Red with multiple hits, going 2 for 3 with a double; Joey Votto, who singled and at least provided some drama (more on that later); and Adam Duvall, who got a hit.
Key Plays
- Finnegan scooted through the game's first 5 innings before finally running into trouble in the Bottom of the 6th. A 1-out double by Andrelton Simmons got the Angels in threatening position, and later hits from CJ Cron and Jefry Marte plated runs. Reds trailed, 2-0.
- LA added an insurance run in the Bottom of the 8th off Raisel Iglesias on yet another hit from Cron, and that unfortunately wrapped the scoring on the evening. Reds lost, 3-0.
Source: FanGraphs
- Votto was on a quest to hit over .400 for the second consecutive month, and doing so would've made him the first Cincinnati Red in modern history to accomplish that feat and the first big leaguer since Josh Hamilton in 2010 to do so. Alas, his lineout to LF to end the game left him just shy of that mark, though being "just shy of hitting .400" in any sample of note is still gawdang amazing.
- This loss dropped the Reds to an MLB-worst 5-25 in away interleague play since the beginning of the 2014 season. Do yourself a favor and don't look to find out how many of those games featured "Skip Schumaker - Designated Hitter," would ya?
- The Reds will have an off-day on Thursday before opening a weekend set against the filthy St. Louis Cardinals in GABP beginning Friday night. They've shuffled their rotation to skip Homer Bailey and his sore biceps, so Anthony DeSclafani will toe the rubber on Friday night opposite uberprospect Alex Reyes, with first pitch set for 7:10 MP ET.
- Tunes.