Marcell Ozuna clobbers Tyler Mahle, Reds, in 6-3 Cardinals win

The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game

Jesse Winker started the season offensively just about as slow as is physically possible, a trait he shared in common with pretty much every other bat on the Cincinnati Reds not named Derek Dietrich. Lately, though, the offensive force we expected Winker to be has begun to show its true form, and Saturday was no different.

Winker doubled as part of a 2 for 3 day that featured a run and a walk, in the process raising his season OPS up to a much more Winkerian .828. That’s going to keep rising by the week, too, as Red Reporter’s Five Dumb Predictions for the 2019 Reds insisted that he’ll finish the year with a star-caliber .300/.400/.500 line.

Honorable Mentions are due to: Michael Lorenzen, whose biceps tossed 2 scoreless innings of relief.

Key Plays

• Things looked rather rosy early, as the Reds dropped a 2-spot on Dakota Hudson in the Top of the 3rd. Scott Schebler got it started with a leadoff walk, he moved to 2B on a sac bunt from Tyler Mahle, and later scored after a wild pitch moved him to 3B and Jose Peraza singled him home. Peraza later scored, too, after a productive Joey Votto groundout and a single into LF by Eugenio Suarez. Reds led, 2-0.
• Unfortunately, Marcell Ozuna was on his game today, and he immediately kicked back with a 3-run shot off Mahle in the Bottom of the 3rd, one that came after a Matt Carpenter walk and single off the bat of Paul Goldschmidt. Reds trailed, 3-2.
• The 3-2 deficit became 5-2 when Ozuna struck again in the Bottom of the 5th, this time with a 2-run double off the wall in RF that missed being his second dinger of the game by all of a foot. Reds trailed, 5-2.
• A double down the LF line by Winker in the Top of the 6th eventually resulted in a run when he came home on a sac fly by Derek Dietrich, but Zach Duke immediately vomited that run away in the Bottom of the 6th when tasked with doing everything other than ‘get one tough lefty out.’ Duke hit two Cardinals before eventually yielding a single to Harrison Bader that drove in a run, and the Reds were down, 6-3, which was the same score when this thing ended.

Tony Graphanino

Other Notes

• Life, as it is wont to do, throws curveballs to us all - even to MLB teams. One of the Reds key pickups this winter was pitcher Alex Wood, who looked the part of potential staff ace and the first dominant lefty starter the club has had in years - for at least this year. That, though, looks more and more like it may never materialize as planned, as Wood has reportedly suffered yet another setback with his injured back, as MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon reported.
• Sunday’s series finale will feature Sonny Gray on the mound for the Reds, as Cincinnati looks to pick up a key series win over the Cardinals in #Bush Stadium. Jack Flaherty will toe the rubber for St. Louis, with first pitch set for 2:15 PM ET.
• Tunes.