The Reds won a baseball game!

The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game

Eugenio Suarez has all the arby-eyes at this point. Every last one of them.

Despite missing some three weeks of the Cincinnati Reds season, the recently-extended 3B leads the squad in runs driven in, in part because there has rarely been a single pitch in a big spot that he hasn’t thumped the hell out of so far in this otherwise miserable season. That held true on Friday, as the lefty-masher hit an early 3-run dinger of LHP Wei-Yin Chen, later walked twice, and has firmly established himself as the go-to righty bat in this Cincinnati lineup for both now and the future.

Honorable Mentions are due to: Sal Romano, who allowed a lone run in his 5.1 IP, scattering 3 hits and 2 walks against his 2 Ks; Jose Peraza, who went 2 for 4 with a double and a run scored; Adam Duvall, who cranked a dinger; Billy Hamilton, who walked twice and singled; and Jared Hughes, who tossed a pair of scoreless innings of relief (with 2 Ks).

Key Plays

• The Reds jumped all over Wei-Yin Chen in the Bottom of the 1st. Peraza led off with a double into the LF corner, and Alex Blandino followed with a walk. After Joey Votto K’d on a check-swing, Suarez picked him up with a massive 3-run dong into the LF seats. Duvall then followed with a pop-up to RF that carried, and carried, and carried until finally landing just beyond the wall, and the back to back jacks had Cincinnati up early, 4-0.
• Lewis Brinson logged the memory of ‘fly ball that just manages to carry all the way the heck out of GABP on a warm May evening,’ and turned that into a solo dinger over the wall in left-center in the Top of the 5th to get Miami on the board. Reds led, 4-1.
• That was it! The Reds won!

Tony Graphanino

Other Notes

• After exiting Thursday night’s Louisville Bats game due to dizziness, Nick Senzel was out of the lineup again for them on Friday. Considering his 2017 season ended because of a case of vertigo, I totally get the precaution from the Reds organization - and hope it dissipates quickly.
• Amir Garrett was placed on the bereavement list on Thursday, and prior to the game on Friday the club called-up reliever Tanner Rainey to take his place on the active roster for the time being.
• Tyler Mahle gets the start for Cincinnati on Saturday against the Marlins, and he’ll be opposed by Miami starter Caleb Smith. Smith, like Chen tonight, is a lefty, and while not seeing Jesse Winker in the lineup tonight was a bummer, it’s now pretty obvious he was never slated to start back to back games against lefties. And heck, given the shoulder issues he’s faced early this year, giving him an extra day off was probably the prudent thing to do.
• Winker, to his credit, chipped in with a late single in a pinch-hit spot.
• Saturday’s first pitch is set for 7:10 PM ET, by the way.
• Tunes.