Matt Harvey so-so, Reds offense picks him up in 6-3 win over Giants

The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game

It’s always fun to see a player beat up on his former team, at least when that player is currently on the Cincinnati Reds and not playing against them. On Wednesday, we got to see Adam Duvall knock around the club that originally drafted and developed him, as the LF went 2 for 4 with a dinger, single, 3 ribbies, and an excellent running catch on defense that directly kept another run off the board.

It’s been a rough go of it for Duvall for most of the 2018 season, but he certainly turned in a positive series against his former club.

Honorable Mentions are due to: Scooter Gennett, who also homered, adding a double and a fabulous catch of his own to save runs; Jared Hughes, who fired another 2 IP of scoreless relief; Jose Peraza, who singled twice and scored a run; Joey Votto, who walked, singled, drove in a run, and scored; and Alex Blandino, who chipped in with a 2 hit day in his old Northern California stomping grounds.

Key Plays

• The Reds jumped on Andrew Suarez for 4 runs before he could record an out in the Top of the 1st. A single by Peraza opened things, and he ended up on 3B when Scooter followed with a double. An RBI single into LF by Votto came next, and Duvall then followed with a 3-run dinger into the LF seats. Reds led early, 4-0.
• Unfortunately, Matt Harvey wasn’t fooling early on, and the Giants immediately plated a pair in the Bottom of the 1st. Back to back doubles by Gregor Blanco and Andrew McCutchen plated the first run, and after Evan Longoria singled to move Cutch to 3B, he scored on a sac fly. Reds led, 4-2.
• Brandon Belt continued his tear in the Bottom of the 3rd, clubbing a solo homer over the RF wall, which left the Reds ahead just 4-3.
• The Reds sure appeared to luck into a run in the Top of the 5th. With 2-outs, it appeared initially that Votto had grounded out slowly to 1B to end the inning, but after some discussion, the umpires ruled that the bouncer he’d hit had actually hit off Votto’s leg and was therefore a foul ball. Replay sure didn’t appear to confirm that, but Votto returned to his 3-2 count nonetheless and eventually walked. He then moved up to 3B on a jam-shot single into shallow RF by Duvall, and scored on a passed ball to put the Reds up 5-3.
• Gennett played add-on in the Top of the 7th just a batter after he made a tremendous running catch with the bases loaded to get the Reds out of a jam in the Bottom of the 6th. Against Corey Gearrin, he launched a solo dinger into McCovey Cove, and the Reds held a 6-3 lead.
• After that, Hughes and Raisel Iglesias managed to keep the Giants bats quiet enough, and the Reds salvaged the series with a 6-3 win.

Tony Graphanino

Other Notes

• Matt Harvey was hit hard early, and often during his first two innings. He settled in from there, however, striking out batters for 5 of the final 6 outs he recorded. His final line: 4 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 5 K on 77 pitches.
• The Reds have an off-day on Thursday, which presumably they’ll use to get acclimated back to eastern time. They’ll open a seven game homestand on Friday with the Chicago Cubs in town, with Homer Bailey on the mound opposite Kyle Hendricks to start. First pitch Friday is set for the usual 7:10 PM ET.
• Tunes.