Amir Garrett surrenders 3 homers in return to New York, Reds lose to Mets 5-1

The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game

Joey Votto went 2 for 3 with a walk, because Joey Votto goes 2 for 3 with walks. That’s become par for the course for the Cincinnati Reds star, particularly in the second half of seasons, as lately anytime he steps to the plate after the All Star break it’s damn near assured he’s going to end up on base.

Unfortunately, that’s pretty much all the Reds had working on Friday against the New York Mets, as the rookie pitchers on the mound allowed a plethora of baserunners, the offense largely stalled, and nary a soul hit an extra-base hit.

Honorable Mentions are due to: Ariel Hernandez, who fired a scoreless, hitless inning of relief; and Scooter Gennett, who was the other said player to reach base twice (on a 2 for 4 night that included 2 singles, an error, and some iffy defense at 2B).

Key Plays

• Travis Taijeron took Amir Garrett deep to leadoff the Top of the 2nd, hitting a laser over the LF wall for a solo shot that left Cincinnati behind, 1-0.
• Top of the 3rd...same story. Garrett left a meatball up and inside the zone against Jose Reyes (when the target was low and away), and it got turned around for another solo homer. Reds trailed, 2-0.
• Garrett appeared to hurt his calf in the Bottom of the 5th, though perhaps it was no more than a cramp as he stayed in the game after a few warmup pitches. Of course, he then allowed a single to Seth Lugo - the opposing pitcher - before serving up a 2-run dinger to Reyes. Welp. Reds trailed, 4-0.
• Cody Reed took over for Garrett in the Bottom of the 6th, and he promptly allowed back to back doubles to put runners on 2B & 3B to open the frame. He then struck out Dominic Smith, but after intentionally walking Gavin Cecchini, Reed got a grounder to Scooter Gennett at 2B, and the Reds’ 2B chose to try to nail the runner at home; unfortunately, catcher Tucker Barnhart is no 6’5” behemoth like Matt Wieters, per se, and the high throw pulled Tuck off the plate and allowed the run to score. Fortunately, though, a caught liner & flip to 2B by Scooter eventually turned a double play to limit the damage, but the Reds trailed, 5-0.
• The Reds cobbled together a mini-rally in the Top of the 9th, even loading the bases before Zack Cozart lifted a pinch-hit sac fly into LF to get them on the board. Unfortunately, that was all the rallying they could put together, as they fell, 5-1.

Tony Graphanino

Other Notes

• As The Enquirer’s Zach Buchanan noted on Twitter, tonight’s start by Amir Garrett seemed to be a bit of a microcosm of the rookie’s season as a whole. Garrett’s final line: 5 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 5 K on 82 pitches, with 3 more dingers allowed.
• Adam Duvall’s precipitous second half decline has been every bit as pronounced as last year’s, and in many ways it’s been much worse. His 0 for 4 day sunk his season OBP all the way down to .299, with his .250/.299/.497 line this year now looking eerily similar to the .241/.297/.498 line he posted just last year.
• The Pensacola Blue Wahoos won in extra innings today against Jacksonville to sweep the Southern League semifinal series 3-0. Unfortunately, the championship series had already been canceled due to Hurricane Irma bearing down on Florida, so their season will end as co-champs of the league. Congrats to the Wahoos, and our collective RR fingers are crossed for Florida as the storm looks horrendous.
• Homer Bailey and Rafael Montero will be the starters for these two clubs in Saturday’s contest, with first pitch set for 7:10 PM ET.
• Tunes.