Bronson Arroyo allows 4 more homers as Reds fall to Rockies, 6-4

The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game

Joey Votto continued to feast on roast beef sandwiches, chomping through horsey sauce at a rate nearly unmatched this season. He added 3 arby-eyes on Sunday against the Colorado Rockies as part of a 2 for 4 day that featured a homer, leaving him with 38 driven in on the season. That’s the second most in all Major League Baseball, which I suppose falls under the category of things he gets paid for, too.

Congrats on another big day, Joey, and know that we’ll all expire at some point eventually after a finite number of home run trots around the sun.

Enjoy Arby’s.

Honorable Mentions are due to: Scott Schebler, who singled and dingered; Devin Mesoraco, who singled, doubled off the CF wall, and walked; Jose Peraza, who walked, tripled, and scored; Billy Hamilton, who stole another 2 bags; and Robert Stephenson, who fired another 1.2 innings of scoreless relief (with 2 Ks, to boot).

Key Plays

• Hamilton reached to leadoff the Bottom of the 1st, and did so thanks to a rare Nolan Arenado error, one which came on a soft grounder that he tried to barehand thanks to Billy’s speed. Hamilton then stole both 2B and 3B, and later scored on a productive RBI groundout by Votto to SS after Jose Peraza had walked. Peraza, however, was picked off 2B after Adam Duvall was hit by a pitch, and that helped end the threat. Reds led, however, 1-0.
• Ryan Hanigan led off the Top of the 3rd against his old friend Bronson Arroyo, and corkscrewed a singled down the RF line on the first pitch he saw. That proved large when Kyle Freeland butcher-boy’d a double over Duvall’s head in LF to leave runners on 2B & 3B, and Hanigan later scored on a sac-fly by Charlie Blackmon. DJ LeMahieu then singled into CF to bring in Freeland, and the Reds trailed, 2-1.
• Bronson Arroyo serves up meatballs. In fact, he’s made a pretty damn good living from it. Carlos Gonzalez feasted on one in the Top of the 4th, brunching a solo tater just inside the RF foul pole to put the Reds behind, 3-1.
• Speaking of brunching taters, Freeland - a pitcher, he’s the pitcher - juiced a solo mimosa off Arroyo in the Top of the 5th, too, which put the Reds in a 4-1 hole. The inning continued to go not smoothly when LeMahieu flipped a solo omelet well into the LF seats, and the Reds were down 5-1.
• Pat Valaika pulled a would-be dinger foul, did so on the next pitch, and then finally poached an Arroyo egg for anoter solo shot in the Top of the 6th, the last of the runs Bronson allowed on the day. Reds trailed, 6-1.
• Peraza hit a triple off the yellow stripe atop the LF wall (which was confirmed as just a triple after umpire review), and he scored a batter later in the Bottom of the 6th on Votto’s oppo dinger to nearly the same spot. Two batters later, Schebler ended Freeland’s day with a solo blast well over the bullpens in RF, and the Reds trailed just 6-4.
• Unfortunately, the Colorado bullpen is damn good, and that was evident as both Adam Ottavino and Greg Holland put up enough zeroes to put the game to rest. Reds lost, 6-4.

Tony Graphanino

Other Notes

• Votto’s 6th inning homer was the 233rd of his Cincinnati career, tying him with Jay Bruce for 7th on the team’s all-time list. Incidentally, Bruce homered for the New York Mets on Sunday afternoon for good measure.
• CarGo’s 4th inning homer was the 16th of his career against Cincinnati, the 4th most he’s hit against any team in his career. NL West foes Arizona (26), Los Angeles (24), and San Francisco (21) are 1-2-3 on that list, all in at least 109 games played against them. He’s needed just 47 games against the Reds to get those 16 dingers, however.
• Speaking of dingers, Bronson Arroyo’s final line featured 4 of them: 5.1 IP, 9 H, 6 ER, 2 BB, 4 K on 89 pitches.
• Zack Cozart sat today on a scheduled off day, but is apparently dealing with the same sore wrist he’s dealt with off and on all season.
• The Reds have Ohio Cup bragging rights on the line next, as Cleveland comes to GABP on Monday and Tuesday before the Reds head north for a pair at The Jake. Monday’s game will feature Opening Day Starter (™) Scott Feldman against Josh Tomlin, with first pitch scheduled for 7:10 PM ET.
• Tunes.