The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game
Joey Votto could barely run tonight, as it appeared he was still feeling the impact of Ryan Madson having plunked him solidly in the leg over the weekend in the series against the Washington Nationals. Of course, he’s Joey Votto, however, and he merely managed to shrug that off while up against the New York Mets and powerful starter Noah Syndergaard.
Votto singled twice, walked, and drove in a run on the night, his trio of times on-base the best of the Cincinnati Reds bunch in yet another largely slow offensive night. For that, he gets one of these here trophies. It’s in the mail, Joey, I promise - just don’t ask for the tracking number.
Honorable Mentions are due to: Eugenio Suarez, who spiked his helmet super hard twice after K-ing but managed a large 2-run single later in the game; Jared Hughes, who lowered his ERA to an absurd 1.41 with yet another scoreless inning of relief; and Scooter Gennett, who singled and walked.
Key Plays
- Well, the Bottom of the 1st inning sure didn’t go as well as Homer Bailey would’ve hoped. It was a bit of ‘death by BABIP,’ as a trio of singles opened the frame, and two more subsequent singles followed in the inning, the result of which was a 3-0 deficit for the Reds after the 1st.
- Kevin Plawecki destroyed a hanging, 80 mph meatball from Bailey in the Bottom of the 4th, a solo dinger off the facade of the second deck to make it a 4-0 climb. The damage, though, was not yet done for Homer, as he then allowed singles to Noah Syndergaard, Jeff McNeil, and Wilmer Flores, the last of which drove in another run and chased Homer in favor of Wandy Peralta - who mercifully ended the inning. Reds trailed, 5-0.
- Wandy threw 8 pitches to get out of the inning, Michael Lorenzen then pinch hit for him, and before Lorenzen would ever throw a single pitch, Keury Mella took over to pitch the Bottom of the 5th. #Rigglemania, at its finest. Mella got through the 5th, but served up a meatball to McNeil in the Bottom of the 6th that the New York 2B slugged well over the fence in RF for a solo dinger, and the Reds trailed, 6-0.
- Syndergaard finally ran into some bumps in the Top of the 7th, as he hit both Preston Tucker and Phil Ervin with pitches before allowing singles to both Billy Hamilton and Jose Peraza, the latter of which plated a run and chased the New York ace from the game. Bobby Wahl then took over and erased zero of the damage, as a bases loaded walk by Votto plated a run before a jam-shot single into LF from Eugenio Suarez scored another two. Reds trailed, 6-4.
- Unfortunately, the New York bullpen managed to be just good enough from that point forward, and the Reds fell, 6-4, to move to an abysmal 1-6 on this particular road trip.
Tony Graphanino
Source: FanGraphs
Other Notes
- Homer Bailey’s final line was not good. He tossed 3.1 IP, needed 71 pitches to do so, and surrendered 5 ER on 11 H, fanning 2 while not walking anyone. Needless to say, he wasn’t fooling anyone out there tonight.
- Keury Mella’s outing on three days rest after firing 85 pitches in 4.1 IP probably rules him out for starting on Wednesday, which the Reds still have listed as “TBD” after Tyler Mahle was optioned to AAA and the club had a doubleheader on Saturday. That would certainly point towards Robert Stephenson getting recalled for the start, since a) it’s on his regular rest and b) he’s been pitching phenomenally well for Louisville for weeks now.
- Sal Romano will start again for the Reds on Tuesday in the second game of the series, and he’ll do so opposite veteran LHP Jason Vargas. First pitch is set for 7:10 PM ET.
- Tunes.