Tyler Holt! says “There’s no ‘I’ in win”, Reds crush Pirates 8-0

The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game

Tyler Holt has spent this season in the back-up role, filling in where needed in the Reds’ outfield. While his numbers haven’t been overly impressive this season, he turned in his best performance to date to lead the Reds to an 8-0 victory over the Pirates. Holt’s went 3 for 5 with a double, a triple, 3 RBI and a run scored on the day, finishing a dinger short of the cycle. His lone run scored would have been enough to beat Pittsburgh today, but he decided to drive in 3 others for good measure. So have a trophy, Tyler, and continue to finish this season on a positive note.

Honorable mentions go to: Brandon Phillips, for going 3 for 4 with 2 doubles, 1 RBI, and 3 runs scored; Eugenio Suarez, for going 2 for 4 with a RBI and a walk; Ramon Cabrera, for going 2 for 3 with 1 RBI; Brandon Finnegan, for battling through one of his more wild days to go 5 innings and give up no runs on 5 hits, 5 walks, and 7 strikeouts; and lastly, the bullpen, for allowing only 2 base-runners in 4 innings of work.

Key Plays

• Things got rolling in a big way for the Reds in the 2nd inning. Adam Duvall led off the inning with a triple to right-center. That brought up Brandon Phillips, who hit a line drive into center and caught Andrew McCutchen in the middle of a “do I catch it or let it drop?” situation, which did not work out well for the center fielder and the ball rolled all the way to the wall to let BP get to third and score Duvall. Scott Schebler then came up and grounded out to first, scoring Phillips. Ramon Cabrera would walk, Ivan De Jesus, Jr would, shockingly, be hit by a pitch, and then Brandon Finnegan would sacrifice them both over to second and third. That would bring up Tyler Holt, who would triple to center field to bring in Cabrera and De Jesus. Eugenio Suarez would then hit an infield single to score Holt and then Joey Votto would fly out to left to end the inning. Reds lead, 5-0.
• Brandon Finnegan was a little wild today, and would run into some trouble in the bottom of the 2nd, loading the bases with nobody out on a single and two walks. He would settle down and retire the rest of the side in order by striking out Chris Stewart and Ryan Vogelsong and then getting Jordy Mercer to pop out to first.
• The Reds were able to tack on another in the top of the 3rd. After Adam Duvall led off the inning with a fly out, Brandon Phillips would smack a double into right field. Scott Schebler would come up and trade places with him, hitting a double of his own to left field to bring in Phillips. The Reds were unable to do anything with Schebler at second, but they still left the 3rd with a 6-0 lead.
• After a scoreless 4th, the Reds extended their lead again in the 5th. Brandon Phillips led off with his 2nd double of the day and his 30th of the season. After a Scott Schebler strikeout, Ramon Cabrera would single to center to score Phillips from second. Ivan De Jesus, Jr. would ground into a double play to end the inning, but the Reds lead 7-0.
• The Reds continued to kick the Pirates while they were down. Ramon Cabrera led off with a single to left and would move to third on a double by De Jesus. After Tony Renda walked, Tyler Holt would come up and single to left to score Cabrera. Eugenio Suarez would strike out and Hernan Iribarren would pinch hit and GIDP to end the inning. Reds lead 8-0.
• The bullpen shut the Pirates down in the 8th and 9th to preserve the Reds’ 8-0 victory.

Tony Graphanino

Other Notes

• The Reds would announce some injury news today regarding Zack Cozart, Jose Peraza, and Anthony DeSclafani. While none of the issues surrounding these players, they were at least concerning enough to sit them down for a few days and not try to push them through when the team has only won 60 games this season.
• In other injury news, the Reds also announced today that they will shut down right-hander Alfredo Simon for the season. The shoulder soreness that bothered him earlier this season seems to have returned and he will have surgery to try and fix the issue.
• The Reds head back home on Monday to face off against the Brewers in a 3-game series. Keyvius Sampson (0-1, 3.90) will make the start and face off against Wily Peralta (6-9, 5.47) at 7:10 PM ET.
• Tunes.