Dingers and Errors doom Reds in 5-2 loss to St. Louis

The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game

Ever since getting called up, Jose Peraza has done nothing but hit the ball since his call-up in August. He has a second-half line of .406/.441/.563 line, and added to that with a 3-4 performance while patrolling left field for the Reds. While his usage has been frustrating at some points this season, it has been good to see what he can do with regular at-bats and the potential talent he can bring to the Reds. Here’s to hoping that he can keep this going and finish this season on a good note.

Honorable mentions go to: Wandy Peralta, for making his MLB debut and recording his first career strike out in a scoreless inning; Hernan Iribarren for recording his first hit with the Reds in a 1-4 day; Joey Votto for going 2-4 with a walk in another Joey Votto-esque game; and Euguenio Suarez for going 2-4.

Key Plays

• The Cardinals got on the board first with a 2-run second inning. Stephen Piscotty led off with a double to left field. After getting Yadier Molina to line out and Greg Garcia to strike out, Randal Grichuk would line a ball to the right field seats for a 2-run dinger. Adleman would get Wong to fly out to end the inning, but the Cardinals led 2-0.
• St. Louis would add to their lead in the top of the 5th, with Kolten Wong leading off the inning with a solo bomb to center field for a 3-0 Cardinals’ lead.
• Things would kind of begin to fall apart for the Reds in the 6th inning. Jumbo Diaz came on to replace Adleman and started off with a strike out of Brandon Moss. Stephen Piscotty then came up and reached on an error by Joey Votto, and then moved over to third on a single by Molina. Jumbo Diaz then let a pick-off attempt go wild and allowed Piscotty to score on the error. If you’re still following, yes Diaz tried to keep Molina from stealing second base. Molina moved over to third on a fly-out by Greg Garcia and then scored on a wild pitch by Diaz. He was able to get Grichuk to strike out to end the inning, but not before the Cardinals extended their lead to 5-0.
• The Reds started to mount a comeback in the 7th. Hernan “The Barbarian” Iribararen led off with a line drive to left for his first hit as a Cincinnati Red and then came around to socre on a pinch-hit double by Ivan De Jesus, Jr. Tyler Holt would then come up and single up the middle to score De Jesus. After a Zack Cozart line out, Joey Votto would smack a single into right to move Holt to second. Eugenio Suarez would then load the bases on an infield single off of the pitcher. That brought up Scott Schebler, who flied out to left field, where Tyler Holt would tag up and be thrown out at the plate to end the inning. Cardinals lead, 5-2.
• The Reds were unable to get anything going in the 9th, falling with a final of 5-2.

Tony Graphanino

Other Notes

• Billy Hamilton exited the game in the middle of his at-bat in the 3rd inning with a strained oblique. Hopefully this isn’t something that is too serious and we can see Billy out here stealing bases and making great catches again soon.
• This is a long time to go between hits, but good for him for getting back to the bigs:

• To make room for Iribarren on the 40-man roster, the Reds designated Daniel Wright for assignment, where he was then claimed by the Angels.
• The Reds out-hit the Cardinals 11-5 today, but hit into 4 double plays. That is unfortunate and usually how you don’t win games.
• 23 year-old Robert Stephenson (2-0, 3.00) makes the third major league start of his career against Jay Bruce and the New York Mets as Bruce plays his first game as a visitor in GABP. He will face off against 43 year-old Bartolo Colon (12-7, 3.35). Game 1 of the series starts tomorrow at 1:10 PM ET.
• Tunes.