Bronx Bombed: Reds can’t silence Yankees’ bats, fall 10-4

The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game

The Reds, for the most part, have been surprising people this season. They came into tonight’s game leading the NL Central and were 3-games over .500. One thing that has not surprised anybody, especially us Reds fans, is the continued offensive dominance of Joey Votto. In a night that did not go the Reds’ way, he continued to be a bright spot in the offense, going 2 for 4 with a 2-run dinger (his 10th of the season) and 3 RBI. He raised his overall line to .286/.399/.625 on the season and is hitting for power like we haven’t seen since his MVP-winning days. Have a trophy, Joey, and keep doing your thing.

Honorable mentions go to: Adam Duvall, for going 1 for 4 and driving in a run; Tucker Barnhart, for going 2 for 4; Zack Cozart, for going 1 for 3 and scoring twice; and Blake Wood and Wandy Peralta, for being the only guys to last a full inning without giving up a run to the Bombers.

Key Plays

• Things did not start off well for Rookie Davis against his old team. Brett Gardner led off the game and reached on an error by Davis and then would move to second after a single to right by Aaron Hicks. After getting Matt Holliday to strike out, Jacoby Ellsbury would walk to load the bases. That brought up Gary Sanchez, who hit a ground ball to left to bring in Gardner and Hicks. Old friend Didi Gregorius would follow that up with a single of his own to drive in Sanchez. Davis would get Chase Headley to ground into a double play to end the inning, but the Yankees led 3-0.
• The Reds were able to get a run back in the bottom of the inning. Billy Hamilton led off with a single to left and then would move to third on a single by Zack Cozart. That would bring up Joey Votto, who did as he normally does, and he drove in Billy with a line-drive single to right. Unfortunately, that is where the threat would end, as Adam Duvall would fly out and Eugenio Suarez would ground into a double play to end the inning. Yankees lead, 3-1.
• The Yankees were able to get that run back in the top of the 2nd, unfortunately. Ronald Torreyes led off the inning with a single to center and then moved over to second after a sacrifice bunt by Masahiro Tanaka. After a Brett Gardner ground out, Aaron Hicks would collect his second hit of the game and drive in Torreyes with a RBI single. Matt Holliday grounded out to end the inning. Yankees lead, 4-1.
• Rookie Davis would run into trouble again in the top of the 5th. After getting Aaron Hicks to ground out to lead off the inning, Matt Holliday would reach on a broken-bat single to center. Jacoby Ellsbury would follow up Holliday’s hit with a single of his own, which would force the Reds to make a pitching change and replace Rookie Davis with Austin Brice. Brice would immediately give up a single to left by Gary Sanchez to load the bases. That would bring up Didi Gregorius, who would collect his second RBI of the game with a sacrifice fly to left. Chase Headley would line out to right to end the inning. Yankees lead, 5-1.
• In the bottom of the 5th, Arismendy Alcantara led off the inning with a single to right field. After a Billy Hamilton fly out and a Zack Cozart ground out into a fielder’s choice, Joey Votto would hit one off the glove of Chase Headley to reach on an error and move Cozart to third. That brought up Duvall, who shot a ground ball through the hole at short for a RBI single. Eugenio Suarez would ground out to end the inning. Yankees lead, 5-2.
• Drew Storen came on in the 7th inning and struggled with his command. He hit Aaron Hicks in the foot to lead off the inning and then walked Matt Holliday after some very questionable calls. After a Jacoby Ellsbury fly out, Storen hit Gary Sanchez in the arm to load the bases. He would get Didi Gregorius to line out to third for the second out, but then hit Chase Headley in the knee with two strikes to bring in a run. Ronald Torreyes would then smack a line drive into center to score Holliday, but the inning would mercifully end as Sanchez was thrown out at home by Billy Hamilton. Yankees lead, 7-2.
• The Reds would not go quietly into the night and were able to tack on a couple runs in the 7th. After a quick two outs to start the inning, Zack Cozart would draw a walk. That walk, as walks tend to do, ultimately haunted and Joey Votto drove in Cozart with a monster 2-run dinger to right field. Duvall struck out to end the inning, but the Reds cut the Yankees lead to 7-4.
• The Yankees weren’t done scoring runs, and quickly extended their lead in the 8th. Barrett Astin came on to pitch and gave up a leadoff single to Starlin Castro. Brett Gardner then came up and mashed a 2-run bomb to right to increase the lead back to 9-4. After Aaron Hicks grounded out to first, Matt Holliday came up and destroyed a pitch to center for a solo dinger. The threat continued for the Yankees as they would end up loading the bases, but a Ronald Torreyes groundout would end the inning without any other damage. Yankees lead, 10-4.
• The Reds couldn’t muster up any offense in the 8th and the 9th and the Yankees would win, 10-4.

Tony Graphanino

Other Notes

• Arismendy Alcantara came on in the 5th inning to pinch hit for Rookie Davis and promptly lined a single to right field for a base hit. That gave him his 7th hit in his last 7 plate appearances. After a pretty awful start to the season, he is now hitting .385/.407/.538 in 2017.
• Joey Votto’s home run in the 7th inning was his 10th of the year. It took him until June 4th to hit his 10th home run of 2016.
• Going into tonight, Barrett Astin had not given up a run in his first 4 appearances of 2017. Regression sucks.
• The Reds conclude this short series with the Yankees on Tuesday night as Tim Adelman takes the mound against C.C. Sabathia. First pitch is at 7:10 PM ET.
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