Reds played the Cubs, so the Reds lost, 9-2

The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game

Jose Peraza continued to smack around MLB pitching in this, his longest stint in the big leagues to date.  He raised his season average to a tidy .324 after a 2 for 4 night that included a ribbie, and for that we are all thankful.

Unfortunately, he was the lone member of the Cincinnati Reds to reach base of his own volition on the night, which goes a decent way to explain why the good guys fell to the Chicago Cubs once again.

Honorable Mentions are due to:  Steve Selsky, who doubled, scored, and drove in a run; Joey Votto, who doubled, too; and Tony Cingrani, who was the lone Reds pitcher to record more than an out without allowing a run.

Key Plays

• The Cubs got on the board with a pair of runs in the Bottom of the 1st against Robert Stephenson, with things snowballing after the rookie righty hit Dexter Fowler with a pitch in the game's opening plate appearance. Fowler later moved to 2B on a wild pitch, and then scored on a single to LF by Ben Zobrist.  Zobrist's single came immediately after Anthony Rizzo had reached on a dribbler of an infield single to 3B, and that proved important two batters later when Rizzo scored on a similarly dribbled infield single to 3B off the bat of Javier Baez that drove in the Chicago 1B (and was upheld by review shortly thereafter).  Reds trailed early, 2-0.
• Cincinnati struck back quickly, however, leveling the score in the Top of the 2nd.  Scott Schebler singled to CF with 1-out, and he scored a batter later on Selsky's double to the RF wall.  Tucker Barnhart then walked, and both he and Selsky were waved around a batter after Stephenson's sac bunt when Peraza singled to LF. Selsky scored, Barnhart was out at home, but the game was then tied, 2-2.
• Chicago notched another run in a lengthy Bottom of the 3rd, and it came thanks to a 1-out walk by Zobrist - which haunted.  Baez singled two batters later to move Zobrist to 2B, which put him in perfect position to score when Miguel Montero followed with a single to LF.  Reds trailed, 3-2.
• Bob Steve chunked a meatball towards the plate to leadoff the Bottom of the 4th.  Fowler launched said meatball to Uranus.  Reds trailed, 4-2.
• Montero scored after a leadoff single in the Bottom of the 5th after a walk moved him over once, a groundy force-play moved him to 3B, and a Michael Lorenzen balk allowed him to walk home.  Balk so hard, that shit cray.  Reds trailed, 5-2.
• I went to pick up a completely inane, innocuous, thoroughly delicious pizza during the Bottom of the 6th, at which point Montero again apparently bit the Reds with a 2-run single off Lorenzen after Zobrist had single and Jason Heyward had hauntingly walked, too.  Reds trailed, 7-2.
• The pizza was good.  Real good.  Nice, melted mozzarella on top of peppers, pepperonis, and onions. Kris Bryant hit a 2-run homer, and the crust was so incredibly well rolled and cooked I could hardly stay focused on my keyboard.  Reds trailed, 9-2.

Source: FanGraphs