Defense, pitching haunt Reds in 12-5 loss to Diamondbacks

The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game

As bad as the pitching and defense were tonight, the offense actually played pretty well. Nobody had as good of a night at the plate as Eugenio Suarez, though. He went 4 for 5 with a double and a RBI. While his performance couldn’t make up for the 7-run deficit, it was nice to see him break out of his mini-slump.

Honorable mentions are due to: Scooter Gennett, who went 3 for 5 and scored a run; Adam Duvall, for going 2 for 4 with a double and 4 RBI; Jose Peraza, for also going 2 for 4; and Michael Lorenzen, for throwing 2 shutout innings.

Key Plays

• Adam Duvall got things going early for the Reds. After Scooter Gennett and Eugenio Suarez reached with singles, Adam Duvall grounded one up the middle for a RBI single. Reds lead, 1-0.
• Things quickly unraveled for Homer Bailey in the bottom of the 2nd. A leadoff triple by Daniel Descalso and a 1-out walk Chris Owings put runners on the corner. He was able to get a double-play ball off Socrates Brito, but it was misplayed by Jose Peraza and Descalso was able to score to tie the game. Instead of getting out of the inning with that double play, he instead had to face Nick Ahmed. Homer hung a slider for Ahmed and the Diamondbacks led 4-1.
• John Ryan Murphy led off with a home run in the bottom of the 4th and then another error, this time of the throwing variety by Scooter Gennett, allowed another run to score. D’Backs led, 6-1.
• The Reds tried to make a game of it in the top of the 5th. Singles by Jose Peraza and Joey Votto put runners on first and second. That brought up Suarez, who hit a double to center to bring in Peraza. After Scott Schebler walked to load the bases, Adam Duvall would line a double to center to clear them. D’Backs led 6-5.
• A lot of hits and walks happened over the next two innings and before we knew it, the lead was 11-5. They ended up scoring another one later on but I didn’t really pay attention. I had many smoked meats to eat. Anyways, the Reds lost 12-5.

Tony Graphanino

Other Notes

• Homer Bailey had another rough outing, lasting only 4 innings and giving up 6 earned runs (8 total) while only striking out 3. With Anthony DeSclafani only making one more rehab start, it will be interesting to see how they handle Homer’s spot in the rotation, especially if Sal Romano has a good start on Wednesday.
• I mentioned earlier that the Reds’ offense played well. They actually out-hit the Diamondbacks 16-11 and 8 of the 9 starters had a hit.
• Mark Sheldon of MLB.com dropped a few injury updates before the game. Senzel, as we wrote about in the preview, has been cleared to return to Louisville, which is great news. He also talked about relievers Raisel Iglesias and Austin Brice. Iglesias is apparently pain free and Brice was able to throw a bullpen today. Hopefully we can see those guys back on the mound soon.
• The fangraph has an upside down Batman.
• Tunes.