The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game
Homer Bailey’s first start back with the Cincinnati Reds after a knee issue sent him to the 10-day DL was a promising one, as he fired 6.2 innings of 2 ER, 8 K ball on 115 pitches against the St. Louis Cardinals. How he fared after that, though, was what we were all looking towards to see if it was merely a fluke after his brutal start to the season.
The Detroit Tigers are in rebuild mode and aren’t exactly the most formidable team in the game, but Homer didn’t mince pitches while largely breezing through their lineup on Tuesday, however. He fired 8 innings of 3 hit ball, allowing just a lone walk against 6 Ks, but the 2 ER he allowed were simply too much for the Cincinnati offense to overcome on a lackluster night of hitting.
Still, that’s precisely the kind of back to back outings from Bailey we’ve hoped to see for years now, and it does appear that there might still be some life left in that scarred right arm of his yet.
Honorable Mentions are due to: Phillip Ervin, who doubled, tripled, and scored; Joey Votto, who doubled; and Eugenio Suarez, who doubled, too - and drove in a run.
Key Plays
- The Reds got back to back doubles from Ervin and Votto off Detroit starter Matthew Boyd in the Top of the 3rd. Unfortunately, the second double caused Ervin to hesitate a bit to see if it was caught at the wall, and he was held up at 3B. Suarez then walked to load the bags, but the Reds could not find a way to score...
- ...that burned immediately when Niko Goodrum took Homer deep in the Bottom of the 4th after Bailey had retired the first eleven batters of the game. That put the Reds behind, 1-0.
- Mike Gerber picked up his first career big league hit off Bailey in the Bottom of the 8th, fisting a sawed-off opposite-field 2-out double into the LF corner, which scored Jose Iglesias immediately after he had barely, barely beaten out the relay throw on what would’ve been a 6-4-3 inning-ending double play. Reds trailed, 2-0.
- Despite retiring roughly a dozen in a row, Boyd exited for the Top of the 9th in favor of reliever Shane Greene, who promptly allowed a leadoff triple to Ervin. Two batters later, Suarez hit a liner deep enough into RF to allow Phlerv to tag and score, and the Reds were finally on the board. Unfortunately, that was the only run they’d get, and the Reds fell, 2-1.
Tony Graphanino
Source: FanGraphs
Other Notes
- The only other true chance the Reds had to score came in the Top of the 2nd, when Suarez doubled, moved to 3B, and tried to score on a fly-out to CF off the bat of Tucker Barnhart, but a perfect throw home from Jacoby Jones had him out by two steps.
- The Reds and Tigers will wrap this quick series with a 1:10 PM matinee on Wednesday. Sal Romano will start for Cincinnati opposite Mike Fiers.
- Tunes.