Scooter Gennett homers, pitches, allows homer in Reds’ obliteration at Cubs

The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game

Scooter Gennett had a 2-hit night, including his 20th dinger of the season. It was a 2-run shot for the Cincinnati Reds’ 2B...

...what the hell. Scooter pitched the Bottom of the 8th, and that’s 100% good enough to win this crazy little award regardless of his performance. Scooter pitching: #reboot.

Honorable Mentions are due to: here’s the damn box score, have at it.

Key Plays

• The Cubs jumped on Asher Wojciechowski in the Bottom of the 1st, plating a pair of runs to take the early lead. Jon Jay led off with a single, and he moved to 3B two batters later on Kris Bryant’s double into LF. The Reds opted to bring in the infield against Anthony Rizzo after that, however, which backfired when Rizzo’s oppo grounder scooted past the pulled-in Cozart at SS to score both runners, and the Reds were down early, 2-0.
• Cincinnati got both runs back in the Top of the 2nd, though, in rather dink/dunk/funk fashion. Eugenio Suarez led off with a walk, and he moved up to 2B when Scooter Gennett followed with a single. Devin Mesoraco was then hit on the left foot by a pitch to load the bases, and the Reds scored a batter later on a swinging bunt by Patrick Kivlehan as Jose Quintana’s attempted flip of the ball to home for a force-out went awfully awry. Unfortunately, Mesoraco was forced to exit from 2B after his foot issue proved to be too painful, which meant a cold Tucker Barnhart was brought in to replace him, and Tucker was thrown out easily at home on Billy Hamilton’s bases loaded single into LF. Scooter scored on the play, fortunately, but Quintana was later able to escape the jam in part due to the ill-advised out on the bases. Game tied, 2-2.
• That seems like a lot of descriptive writing considering that both Bryant and Rizzo clubbed monster dingers in the Bottom of the 4th of Wojo, which left the Reds in a 7-2 hole. Sigh.
• Chicago loaded the bases in the Bottom of the 7th against Drew Storen thanks to a HBP and a pair of legged-out infield singles, and to add insult to injury, reliever Mike Montgomery then poked a 2-run double into LF to drive in a pair. The Reds then chose to walk Jon Jay intentionally to reload the bases, and Tommy La Stella then lifted a deep fly ball to the corner in RF. Unfortunately for the Reds, Patrick Kivlehan jumped (when not needed) and airballed on making the catch, which allowed another run to score, and after Bryant flied out to CF, Rizzo poked a 2-run single into CF to plate another two runs. Kyle Schwarber then singled off Gennett’s glove in shallow RF after Michael Lorenzen had taken over to plate another run, and the Reds trailed by a miserable score of 13-2.
• Gennett made amends in the Top of the 8th, taking a Montgomery meatball the other way for a 2-run dinger after Suarez had walked for the 3rd time on the night. That brought the score to 13-4, and the Reds later tacked on an additional run on a slow grounder to SS off the bat of Hamilton that plated Barnhart - who had walked and moved up on Kivlehan’s single - to make the score 13-5.
• Scooter pitched the Bottom of the 8th. Javier Baez homered. That left Cincinnati down 15-5, which is mercifully how things finished.

Tony Graphanino

Other Notes

• Joey Votto extended his streak of reaching base at least twice in a game to 19 in this one, which is completely freaking incredible. He finished 3 for 5 with a double.
• Devin Mesoraco exited in the Top of the 2nd after being hit on the left foot with a pitch by Jose Quintana. He initially stayed in the game, but after reaching 2B and running a bit, he was pulled while in obvious pain. Damn.
• Gennett’s 20th dinger means the Reds now have five players with at least that many homers for just the third time in team history.
• Luis Castillo will be on the mound for the Reds in Tuesday’s tussle with the Cubs, at which point he’ll be opposed by Cubs starter Kyle Hendricks. First pitch is set for 8:05 PM ET.
• Tune$.