Scooter Gennett has 4 hit night, Reds stomp Dodgers 10-6 to open series

The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game

Scooter Gennett is seemingly on a quest to take home a National League batting title, and he helped his case in a big way on Monday while helping the Cincinnati Reds dent the postseason aspirations of the Los Angeles Dodgers in the process.

Scooty smacked 4 hits in his 5 trips to the plate, scoring twice and driving in 3 runs in the process, and looks poised to finish out what’s been absolutely a career year for him to date.

Congrats, Scooter, and add another JNMHSotG to your trophy case.

Honorable Mentions are due to: Joey Votto, who doubled in a pair of runs, scored, and walked; Jose Peraza, who singled twice, scored thrice, and was hit by a pitch; Eugenio Suarez, who belted his 32nd homer of the season; Phillip Ervin, who singled, doubled, and scored a run; Jared Hughes, who fired yet another 1.2 innings of scoreless ball; and Raisel Iglesias, who locked down a scoreless save.

Key Plays

• Votto spoke openly to reporters earlier Monday about a tweak in his swing that he recently made that would result in him hitting for more power for the rest of the season. Well, on the heels of a pair of weekend homers, he nearly hit one out in his initial PA in this one, clubbing a double off the yellow stripe atop the RF wall in the Top of the 1st to score both Hamilton and Peraza, who had walked and been hit by a pitch in front of him, respectively. A Scooter RBI single later scored him, and Scooter himself scored eventually on an error, and the Reds held an early 4-0 lead against Dodgers starter Alex Wood.
• A Chris Taylor leadoff walk did what walks so often do in the Top of the 3rd - it haunted. A later Manny Machado single off Cody Reed put Taylor in scoring position, which turned into a run on Matt Kemp’s RBI single. Reds led, 4-1.
• Suarez belted a solo dinger off Wood to get that run immediately back in the Bottom of the 3rd, however, which put the Reds back ahead by 4 at 5-1.
• Taylor struck again off Reed in the Top of the 4th, however, clubbing a 2-run dinger that also plated Brian Dozier after the former Minnesota Twins 2B had singled earlier. Reds led, 5-3.
• Billy smacked a double with 1-out in the Bottom of the 5th that got another Reds rally started, as he scored a batter later on Peraza’s single thanks to Dodgers catcher Yasmani Grandal being unable to come up with a throw that otherwise would’ve nailed the speedy Cincinnati CF. Scooty later singled again to score Peraza, and the Reds held a 7-3 lead.
• Grandal did what he could to make that up against the team that originally drafted him, as he smoked a homer off Michael Lorenzen in the Top of the 6th to cut the Reds lead to 7-4.
• Scooter’s 4th knock of the night came in the Bottom of the 6th off Ryan Madson, which drove in Peraza yet again. Then, after Ervin doubled, Tucker Barnhart smacked a 2-run single into CF, and the Reds jumped ahead, 10-4.
• Because nothing is easy, the Reds yielded another pair of runs in the Top of the 7th. This time, it was another former Cincinnati draftee doing the initial damage, as Justin Turner walked, moved up on Manny Machado’s double, and scored on Kemp’s RBI groundout. That all came against Lorenzen, but it was Wandy Peralta who later allowed singles to both Cody Bellinger and Max Muncy to plate another Dodger run, but Jared Hughes came on to get Yasiel Puig to line into an inning-ending double play to escape further damage. Reds led, 10-6, which is how things would eventually wrap.

Tony Graphanino

Other Notes

• That ‘added power’ talk I mentioned regarding Votto earlier? Here’s The Athletic’s C. Trent Rosecrans with a more thorough recount of that discussion, which is a classic Votto read.
• Cody Reed’s final line wasn’t pretty, unfortunately. The lefty’s night was over after just 4.0 IP, as he allowed 5 H, 3 ER, and 3 BB in his 83 pitch outing, though he did fan 5.
• Tuesday’s contest between these two will feature Hyun-Jin Ryu going for LA, with Luis Castillo looking for a bounce-back performance on the mound for the Reds. First pitch is again scheduled for 6:40 PM ET.
• Tunes.