Reds bullpen finally falters, Brewers win series opener 6-4

The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game

Whatever has gotten into Jose Peraza, I sure as heck hope it sticks around for the next decade.

The Cincinnati Reds shortstop has been on some kind of tear of late, hitting .327/.377/.439 over his previous 25 games (106 PA), and that continued in a big way on Thursday night. He led off the game with a homer, singled, walked, and scored a run, and has continued to impress.

Honorable Mentions are due to: Jesse Winker, who dingered, singled, drove in a pair, and walked; Eugenio Suarez, who doubled twice, scored, drove in a run, and swiped a bag; Billy Hamilton, who singled twice; and Anthony DeSclafani, who largely pitched great - more on that down below.

Key Plays

• Peraza knocked the socks off a Junior Guerra meatball in the Bottom of the 1st for the club’s first leadoff dinger of the year. Barnhart later doubled, and he later scored on the double off the CF wall by Suarez. Reds led early, 2-0.
• Keon Broxton reached on a 2-out infield single in the Top of the 3rd, which put a runner on base for Jesus Aguilar - who responded with a 2-run laser of a dinger inside the LF foul pole to square the score, 2-2.
• Winker got that 2-run lead back, though, as he lifted an opposite-field dinger just beyond the LF wall in the Bottom of the 3rd, which came after Suarez had poked another double to the wall in CF. Reds led, 4-2.
• Anthony DeSclafani pitched a whale of a 6 inning game tonight, allowing just 2 ER on 4 H, with no walks and 5 Ks. Unfortunately, he came out for the Top of the 7th and allowed a walk and a single after fanning the leadoff hitter before giving way to Amir Garrett despite having thrown only 88 pitches. Due up second against Garrett was Eric Thames, who was 2 for 2 in his career with 2 dingers and a walk against the Cincinnati lefty in his career, but that didn’t stop Jim Riggleman from trying the matchup once again. The third time went much like the others, unfortunately, as Thames parked a Garrett meatball into the seats in right-center for a 3-run dinger, Disco’s otherwise excellent outing was basura, and the Reds trailed, 5-4.
• The Brewers added another run off Dylan Floro in the Top of the 9th, as Brad Miller scored on a sac-fly after leading off the inning with a double. That proved to be enough, and the Reds fell, 6-4.

Tony Graphanino

Other Notes

• Here’s a fun little tidbit we stumbled across earlier today. If you read the replies, you’ll see the eventual answer, but I’ll go ahead and let you know that Jesse Winker is Player B in this comparison between two young OFs with Cincinnati ties. Of course, these numbers were before today’s action, where both Winker and Player A homered, respectively.
• A day after being ejected for arguing balls and strikes, Joey Votto got into an argument with Brewers catcher Erik Kratz while simultaneously having a conversation with the home plate umpire about yet another iffy strike call. Both benches were warned after mildly ‘clearing,’ though nobody was tossed.
• Votto went 0 for 4, by the way.
• It’ll be Sal Romano facing off against Chase Anderson in Friday’s matchup between the Reds and Brewers. Per usual, it’s set to start at 7:10 PM ET.
• Tunes.