Reds rally but come up short, lose to Rockies 5-3

The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game

Scooter Gennett, I guess. Scooter went 2-for-4 and drove in a run, and justified Bryan Price’s decision to start him in a corner outfield spot and bat him cleanup. The rest of the offense was pretty dormant, and Scooter’s been having a good run of games, so he gets the nod from me tonight for extending his 5-game hitting streak.

Honorable Mentions are due to: Joey Votto, who had two hits, including a triple (!), and Ariel Hernandez, who continues to make me question why he hasn’t been on the big league roster all season at this point.

Key Plays

• Both starters got settled in, but the Rockies struck first in the second inning, as their starting pitcher Jon Gray hit a home run deep to CF with a runner on 2nd to give Colorado a 2-0 lead.
• The Reds got a run back in the top of the 4th, as Scooter Gennett poked a base hit past baseball fielding wall Nolan Arenado to score Joey Votto from 3rd. 2-1, Rox.
• The home run ball came back to bite Feldman again in the bottom of the inning, as Chris Valaika’s brother Pat hit a 2-run dong to extend the Rockies’ lead to 4-1.
• The Reds mounted a nice rally in the 6th, as Votto and Gennett both reached to start the inning. Eugenio Suarez singled to score a run, and the Reds ended up chasing Gray from the game. Adam Duvall hit a dribbler to Arenado that looked to be the end of the inning, but Arenado bobbled it and another run scored to cut the lead to 4-3.
• After the Reds threatened in the 7th and 8th, the Rockies added an insurance run off of Tony Cingrani in the bottom of the 8th. 5-3.
• The Reds mounted another rally in the 9th, bringing the leading run to the plate, but Greg Holland shut things down. 5-3 is your final.

Tony Graphanino

Other Notes

• Scott Feldman snapped his quality start streak tonight, giving up 4 runs. As our D. Matthews pointed out, his stock may not get much higher, and tonight was a step in the wrong direction.
• Scooter Gennett has hit safely in his last 5 games, and in 12 of his last 13. A reminder from Wick’s note from yesterday: the Reds acquired him for nothing.
• The final game of the series will be a day tilt tomorrow, starting at 3:10 ET. Sal Romano comes back up to make his second big league start for the Reds, and he’ll face Tyler Chatwood for Colorado.