Cubs bats find Reds’ gaps: Chicago wins 12-8

The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game

Joey Votto went 3-5 with a double and a dinger. His OPS is now an even .900. It’s good to have you back, Mr. Votto.

Honorable mention is due to Eugenio Suarez for his 3-5 night with two solo home runs. Robert Stephenson had a relatively clean two innings, giving up 2H, 1ER with 0BB and 4K. He could be the next Cody Reed! I mean this in a good way!

Key Plays

When I volunteered for the recaps, I was like “hey, at least I hope it’ll be a low-scoring affair.” It wasn’t.

• Cody Reed walked the first two batters of the game. The third, Kris Bryant, hit a home run. Cubs up 3-0.
• In the bottom of the inning, Peraza got on board with a single and then Gennett reached on an error. Joey Votto homered to tie the game. After an Adam Duvall strikeout, Eugenio Suarez homered to make it 4-3 Reds.
• I hope you got the good vibes out of your system. Kris Bryant doubled in his second at-bat, in the second. After Reed walked Rizzo and Addison Russell, Willson Contreras (whose parents spell his name that way) hit a grand slam. That made it 7-4 Cubs.
• Tucker Barnhart and Jose Peraza singled in the first, allowing Votto to bring home Peraza to make the score 7-5.
• Lisalverta Bonilla tampered down the damage for a while, but he let a Jake Arrieta triple bring in Jason Heyward in the 5th to make it 8-5.
• The Cubs then hit an artery in the 6th, with a Rizzo double and Contreras walk setting the stage for a Jason Heyward home run to make it 11-5.
• Arrieta was done fooling around in the bottom of the inning, striking out 2 and letting up a groundout to suck the wind out of the Reds’ sails.
• Eugenio Suarez hit his second homer in the 8th to make it 11-6.
• Contreras doubled against Robert Stephenson in the 9th. A tough-luck single by Heyward brought Contreras around to make it 12-6.
• A half-hearted rally in the bottom of the 9th saw Arismendy Alcantara single (!), Votto double and Duvall single to bring in a couple more runs. Suarez grounded out to end the game at 12-8.

Tony Graphanino

Other Notes

• The Reds are .500 for the first time since April 5.
• Which means, the last time the Reds were .500, they went on a 6-1 streak!
• Phil Ervin grounded out after working a full count in his debut. Lisalveto Bonilla went 5IP 3H, 4ER, 3BB, 6K in his. Bonilla was also rocking a blond mohawk and multiple chains, because he wants me to like him.
• The Reds can start up such a streak tomorrow at 1:10 p.m. ET, when Bronson Arroyo will host John Lackey and they can both talk about their time in Boston.
• According to Zach Buchanan, Bryan Price was lukewarm on getting Reed more starts. “We’ve got to find a way to put him in a spot where he’s going to help our ball club,” Price said. “I think he’s a big-league pitcher, but we can’t use every season as a trial-and-error season.”
• Price also showed true leadership in his lack of sticking to a decision, putting as much blame on Reed as possible: ““If it was us making them great players, we’d be getting paid a lot more than the players are,” Price said. “But the players make themselves, for the most part, great players.”
• After Bob of Office Space fame: “Tell me, Bryan. What, ah, exactly is it you do here?”
• See you at the same time tomorrow.
• Tunes.