Cincinnati's early lead goes poof as Reds fall to Pirates 12-3

The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game

Joey Votto clubbed his 9th homer of the season in the Bottom of the 1st, a 3-run honker that put the Cincinnati Reds ahead early and looked at the time like the would-be big knock of the game. Of course, that's not what happened, as the Pittsburgh Pirates' offense proceeded to beat around Cincinnati pitching from that point forward.

Votto finished 1 for 2 with said dinger, said 3 ribbies, and added a pair of walks for good measure. He now owns a .937 OPS on the season and is on pace to crack 50+ dingers on the year, which is quite nice.

Honorable Mentions are due to:  Billy Hamilton, who walked and stole another 2 bases; Wandy Peralta, who fired a scoreless inning in relief (with 2 Ks); Arismendy Alcantara, who had a pinch-hit triple; and Zack Cozart, who singled, walked, and scored a run.

Key Plays

• Tyler Glasnow, much like many of the young arms on Cincinnati’s staff, has struggled with walking folks so far in 2017. You could even say that’s the scouting report on him to date, which might well corroborate Hamilton and Cozart taking back to back walks to lead off the Bottom of the 1st. Desperate for any and all strikes at that time, Glasnow grooved a meatball to Votto, who hit it 449 feet dead to CF and nearly knocked the faux riverboat above the batter's eye into the Ohio River. Reds led immediately, 3-0.
• The Pirates finally graced the scoreboard in the Top of the 3rd, when Alen Hanson tripled to CF to lead off the inning and scored a batter later on a Jordy Mercer double into RF. Reds led, 3-1.
• Scott Feldman walked Andrew McCutchen to lead off the Top of the 4th. It haunted. McCutchen motored around to 3B when John Jaso cracked a double down the RF line (off the glove of a Joey Votto on an attempted stab), and the Dread Pirate scooted home on a high-hopping single into LF off the bat of Jose Osuna a batter later. Cozart nabbed that high-hopper in shallow LF after it bounced over the head of Eugenio Suarez, and the two managed to nail Jaso attempting to take 3B. That initially kept an additional run off the board on a later single by Hanson, but after the Reds opted to walk Mercer to load the bases and bring pitcher Tyler Glasnow to the plate to hit, Glasnow poked a slow single up the middle to drive in a pair. Feldman then hung a meatball to Josh Harrison when the inning was still going, and he mauled it for a 3-run homer well, well into the LF seats. Reds trailed, 7-3.
• Robert Stephenson took over for Feldman after the Cincinnati starter unraveled, and he pitched quite well...for a time. He put up a pair of scoreless innings initially, but finally ran into trouble in the Top of the 7th, so much so that he loaded the bases before Gift Ngoepe cracked a laser towards Cozart at short. Whether it was knuckling, curving, or whatnot I do not know, but it was hit hard enough that it ricocheted off Cozart’s glove for what would’ve been the final out of the inning, and instead trickled into LF allowed a pair of runs to score. That chased Bob Steve and brought in Blake Wood and...well...things continued to deteriorate, and the Reds eventually trailed 12-3. I swear.
• After that, there was nothing. Reds lost, 12-3.

Tony Graphanino

Source: FanGraphs

Other Notes

• Scott Feldman’s final line: 4 IP, 6 H, 7 ER, 2 BB, 3 K on 73 pitches.
• Bob Steve’s final line: 2.2 IP, 4 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 2 K on 53 pitches.
• It was probably time for the Pirates to put a thumping on the Reds, given how the two teams had fared against each other in recent memory.
• Wednesday’s tussle between the Reds and Pirates will feature Jameson Taillon on the bump for Pittsburgh. He’ll be countered by Cincinnati’s Rookie Davis, and first pitch is set for 7:10 PM ET.
• NSFW Tunes.