Joey Votto hits grand slam, backs Matt Harvey in rain-shortened Reds win over Padres

The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game

It’s been a minute since we’ve given Joey Votto some serious dap. Though in all honesty, that’s largely due to Votto having been decidedly un-Votto for most of this season, with his power numbers having cratered since his bang-up 2017 season for the Cincinnati Reds.

That’s a pretty ripe thing for us to have done, in hindsight, since even though he’s not been his usually god-like self this year, he’s still the NL’s runaway leader in OBP - at an even .420 entering play today - and his measly 126 OPS+ entering play today is equal to the career mark of one Johnny Bench.

Votto, though, smacked the heck out of a grand slam today to finally, finally reach the double-digit dinger mark on the season, and it was the kind of swing that gave us hope that he might just re-lock-in for the final push this season, just days before his 35th birthday.

Congrats on the big fly, Joey, and here’s to being Joey Votto once more.

Honorable Mentions are due to: Matt Harvey, who fanned 10 in 6 innings of 2 ER ball, walking 3 and allowing 4 hits in a solid all-around effort (that even included a single at the plate); and Eugenio Suarez, who had a pair of hits and scored a run.

Key Plays

• The Reds went nuts in the Bottom of the 2nd, plating 7 runs against San Diego starter Robbie Erlin. Suarez led off with a single into LF, and Curt Casali followed with a single two batters later. Brandon Dixon’s RBI single then plated Suarez, and Harvey himself then reached on a bunt single that was prooooobably supposed to be a sacrifice. A Billy Hamilton sac fly then plated another run and moved Dixon up to 3B, which allowed him to score when Scott Schebler followed with an RBI single of his own. Jose Peraza then singled to load the bases for Votto, who promptly unloaded them with a mammoth 4-run slobberknocker halfway up the seats beyond the RF wall. Reds led, 7-0.
• Harvey finally ran into a bitof a jam in the Top of the 4th. He allowed a leadoff single to Hunter Renfroe that put a runner on-base for Eric Hosmer, who followed with a $144 million leadership home run. An Austin Hedges triple and a pair of walks then followed to load the bags, but Harvey got a pair of Ks to limit the damage. Reds led, 7-2.
• After that, the skies opened up, and after a lengthy delay, this otherwise meaningless game between two last place teams was called, with the Reds getting the 7-2 win.

Tony Graphanino

Other Notes

• Schebler’s grand slam last night set a team record, as it was the 10th hit by the Reds on the season. Votto’s, of course, just added to that record.
• Pastrami.
• Capicola.
• Pepperoni.
• SALAMI!
• Tyler Mahle will make his return to the Cincinnati rotation on Sunday in the series finale, where he’ll be opposed by Laynce Jayson Jacob Nix. First pitch is scheduled for 1:10 PM ET, unless they decide to randomly change that because it might rain again.
• UPDATE: They decided to randomly change that because it might rain, again. First pitch is actually set for 4:10 PM ET on Sunday.
• Tunes.