Anthony DeSclafani hit hard, Reds lose to Royals 10-3

The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game

Adam Duvall socks dingers. That’s just what Adam Duvall does.

On a Sunday afternoon where the pitching was bunk and the lineup similarly punchless, it was Duvall socking a long-ball that was the single biggest highlight of an otherwise forgettable Cincinnati Reds game against the remnants of the Kansas City Royals. (Seriously, who are these Royals?)

The trophy is yours, Adam. Here’s to more socked dingers in your future.

Honorable Mentions are due to: Scott Schebler, who went 2 for 3 with a double, ribbie, and run scored; Phil Gosselin, who went 2 for 2 with a double; and Jimmy Herget, who fired another scoreless inning (with a walk and a K).

Key Plays

• The Royals opened the Top of the 1st by reaching on a triple, a single, a single, an error, and a double, which is a decent way of saying that Anthony DeSclafani wasn’t exactly at his sharpest to start the game. Disco allowed another single before finally getting out of the first frame, and the Reds were down early, 4-0.
• The next Royal run came in the Top of the 5th, this time with Tyler Mahle on the mound. Of course, it was a Cliff Pennington error on a grounder by Paulo Orlando that eventually led to Orlando scoring, so that run was unearned. Still, the Reds trailed, 5-0.
• Mahle came out to pitch the Top of the 6th - his 3rd inning of work - and things finally began to fizzle a bit. A single, walk, and single put the bases loaded, and Mahle was pulled after a Humberto Artega sac-fly brought in a run with the inning’s 2nd out. Rafael De Paula took over to try to get out of the jam, and he proceeded to immediately allow an RBI single and later let a runner score on a wild pitch. Sorry about that newfangled ERA, Tyler. Reds trailed, 8-0.
• The Cincinnati bats finally woke up in the Bottom of the 6th. Jose Peraza got things started with a 1-out single, and he motored home on Schebler’s double. Duvall followed with his 2-run dinger, and the Reds trailed, 8-3.
• Wandy Peralta took over for the Top of the 7th, and obviously was never in attendance at Riverfront for Reds games growing up. Otherwise, he’d have known that walks will haunt. He walked the leadoff batter and later walked another Royal to load the bases after a single, and Kansas City got a run in on a productive grounder. Reds trailed, 9-3.
• Austin Brice has a glorious mustache, but said glorious mustache didn’t help him keep the Royals from scoring, unfortunately. A Michael Saunders double got Brice in a pickle, and Saunders then scored on a single into LF by Ryan Goins. Reds trailed, 10-3. That, folks, was how the scoring ended.

Other Notes

• Dilson Herrera has been dealing with shoulder soreness on the same damn shoulder he’s had the same damn shoulder soreness in since the Reds traded for him, but he did at least get an appearance as a PH DH today. Props to spring training baseball for allowing things like “PH DH” to be a thing.
• DeSclafani’s final line wasn’t pretty: 2 IP, 5 H, 4 R (3 ER), BB, K. He was optimistic in an interview after the start, though, as The Enquirer relayed.
• Mahle’s line ended up nearly as ugly after the inherited runs came in: 2.2 IP, 3 H, 4 R (3 ER), BB, 2 K.
• Sal Romano starts Monday for the Reds as they welcome Mike Trout, Zack Cozart, and the Los Angeles Angels to Goodyear. Although, both Trout and Cozart were in the Angels lineup today, so odds are they won’t be playing tomorrow, which is unfortunate. First pitch is set for 3:05 PM ET, and for the first time in seemingly forever there’ll be a TV feed. Unfortunately, though, it’s the Angels feed on FS-W, so you’re going to need MLB.tv to track it down.
• Tunes.