Reds hold on after rain delay to defeat Braves, 4-2

Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game

The Reds have been short on big individual offensive performances this season, but Eugenio Suarez put together a damn fine one on Thursday. He came to the plate with a pair of runners on in each of his first two plate appearances, and came up with two hits and three RBIs, driving in the only runs his team scored over the first seven innings of the game. When the Reds added an insurance run in the eighth inning, it was Suarez scoring, having walked to lead off the inning. Those are some important contributions from an important part of Cincinnati’s order, and we thank him for it.

Honorable mentions go to Luis Castillo, who managed to have an off night in which he allowed eight hits and struck out only two and still shut out Atlanta over six innings of work; Raisel Iglesias, who worked a five-out save; and Jesse Winker, who went 1-for-3 with a walk.

Key Plays

• This game’s offense got started, oddly enough, with Luis Castillo at the plate. Castillo singled to center with one out in the third, and advanced to second on a two-out walk to Joey Votto. Castillo then motored around to score on a single by Suarez, and the Reds led 1-0.
• Castillo again helped the Reds’ offense a bit in the bottom of the fifth, but this time, it was with a sacrifice bunt that advanced Scott Schebler to second base after the Reds’ outfielder walked. Then, Jose Iglesias singled, and two batters later, Suarez came through again, slugging a high fastball to the wall in left field that chased home a pair of runs to make it a 3-0 game in favor of Cincinnati.
• After a lengthy rain delay, Zach Duke was called upon to pitch for the Reds in the top of the eighth, and it did not go swimmingly. Duke allowed a one-out single to Josh Donaldson before grooving a fastball to the left-handed-hitting Freddie Freeman, who crushed a two-run homer to center. That cut the Reds’ lead to 3-2.
• Braves reliever Wes Parsons struggled to put away hitters in the bottom of the eighth, walking Eugenio Suarez and Jesse Winker to start the inning. Yasiel Puig then hit a hard line-out to center that advanced both runners, and Kyle Farmer followed with a sacrifice fly to right-center. Suarez scored, but Winker was thrown out trying to advance to third, ending the inning with the Reds ahead 4-2.

Tony Graph-anino

Other notes

• The rain delay in between the top and bottom of the seventh inning in this game lasted two hours and 42 minutes.
• The eight hits allowed by Castillo doubled his season high, and marked the most hits he allowed in a game since May 2, 2018. He still managed to allow zero runs, because he is very good.
• As you may have heard, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. — the top prospect in baseball — has finally been called up to the big leagues, and will join the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday. That may pique your curiosity as to when Reds top prospect Nick Senzel will be called up, but as MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon reported on Thursday, no conclusion has been reached.
• The Reds will match Anthony DeSclafani (0-1, 5.59 ERA) up against Miles Mikolas (2-1, 4.97 ERA) when they travel to St. Louis to begin a three-game series on Friday. Game starts at 8:15 p.m. EST.
• Tunes.