Jake Arrieta shuts down Reds, Cubs win 6-2, Joey Votto is still amazing

The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game

Joey Votto should realistically win this award every single game. Heck, every single day, even, since there’s a lot of days every year on which there is no Cincinnati Reds game at all.

Votto is the star of the Reds, and on Sunday he was the lone malevolent force the Reds could muster against Jake Arrieta and the Chicago Cubs. Votto had a pair of singles - bringing his career hit total to 1,499 - and drove in the only two runs the Reds could put on the board.

Was it enough today? No, it was not. But the Reds won 2 of 3 from the Cubs, and a series win on the last homestand of the first half of the season against the most recent World Series champs ain’t half bad.

Honorable Mentions are due to: Scott Feldman, for one day being able to tell his grandkids that he was good enough to be traded for Arrieta.

Key Plays

• Votto singled with 2-outs off Jake Arrieta in the Bottom of the 1st.
• Two hours, two Ian Happ homers, and two additional earned runs charge to Austin Brice later, the Reds were down 6-0. And, because of Arrieta, the Reds still hadn’t collected another hit. In fact, Arrieta would clear 7 innings of work on Sunday having allowed just the lone single to Votto on getaway day, which is something Arrieta has made pretty dang good habit of doing to the Reds in GABP.
• Finally, Tucker Barnhart chipped in with a single of his own in the Bottom of the 8th, this time with Justin Grimm on the mound. It came after Scooter Gennett had coaxed a walk, and after Zack Cozart later added a single off Koji Uehara - who had come on to relieve Grimm - the bases were loaded for Votto. Joey Votto is Joey Votto, of course, which means he porked a single into RF to score a pair, and the Reds were finally on the board, though trailing 6-2.
• That, unfortunately, was it. Reds lost, but whatever. The Cubs still suck.

Tony Graphanino

(FanGraphs’ site appears to be a bit down at the moment.)

Other Notes

• Earlier today, the Cincinnati Reds traded international bonus pool money to the Boston Red Sox in exchange for minor league IF/OF Nick Longhi. You’ll remember that the Reds blew past their bonus pool allocation last year to sign both Vlad Gutierrez and Alfredo Rodriguez, among others, which means that while they’ve got some $5 million available to spend this year, their overage last year restricts them to signings of only $300K or less in this window. In other words, they’re out of the market for the top overall prospects as a penalty for signing two of last year’s top prospects, so they’re actively shopping that for what they can get.
• Longhi, FWIW, was a top 10 prospect in Boston’s now-thin farm system, and ranks as the #18 prospect in Cincinnati’s system now, according to MLB Pipeline.
• All Star Game rosters will be announced later today, so stay tuned to find out which Reds will make the trip to Miami.
• Speaking of the All Star Game, the Reds will be out of Cincinnati until after it, as they head west to face the Colorado Rockies and Arizona Diamondbacks for seven total games before the break. Game 1 against Colorado will take place Monday at 8:10 PM ET, with talented rookies Luis Castillo and Jeff Hoffman on the mound, respectively.
• Tunes.