Derek Dietrich’s two home runs not enough as Reds get swept in Pittsburgh, 7-5

The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game

The Reds offense as a whole has struggled mightily early in this 2019 season, but it hasn’t been because of one of the newest Red, Derek Dietrich. He leads the team in, well, nearly every offensive category at this point. You’ll remember it was his late game heroics versus these Pirates on Opening Day that gave the Reds the lead for good.

Well, there must be something he really likes about batting against these Pirates, because he went ahead and hit two more dongs today. The first dinger (and the admiration of it), made Chris Archer very upset and sparked a 4th inning skirmish the next time Dietrich came to the plate.

So Dietrich went ahead and hit another four hundred foot bomb in the 8th.

The scuffle didn’t motivate the Reds much at all in this one, unfortunately (they seemed to go in the other direction directly afterward, actually), but Dietrich has been a very solid get by the Reds. Remember, Cicinnati picked him up on a minor league deal after he was released by the Marlins earlier this offseason. He’s also got one more year of arbitration left, too, so he’ll be a Red for a while should they want him.

Honorable mention to Scott Schebler, who shook off a little bit of the slump today with a homer and Robert Stephenson for his 1.1 of perfect relief pitching.

Key Plays

• On the first pitch of the day for the Pirates, Adam Frazier swatted a massive dong to right center field. Pirates up 1-0 after 1.
• After an Eugenio Suarez walk to open the 2nd inning, Derek Dietrich mashed and even bigger tater to right center field. Well, more like right center river, because that’s where it landed. Jose Peraza reached on an error, but the Reds would be retired in order afterward. Reds grab the lead, 2-1.
• Jung Ho Kang struck out to begin the Pirates part of the 2nd before a Melky Cabrera single. Jason Martin flew out to center before Erik Gonzalez roped a double down to right field that scored Cabrera, though Gonzalez was gunned down by Puig trying to stretch it into a triple. 2 all after 2.
• Scott Schebler put another into the seats in right field for the Reds, which gave the Reds another lead. 3-2.
• The top of the 4th was very eventful, as Archer threw at Dietrich to begin the inning after taking offense to the way Dietrich watched his home run earlier. The benches cleared, things happened. Reds and Pirates were ejected. More on that in a moment.
• Josh Bell hit the ball a country mile in the bottom of the 4th, OVER the batter’s eye in center field, with one out in the inning. Kang lined out for the second out before a Cabrera double. Martin then doubled to right, which was bobbled a bit by Winker (who moved to right after Yasiel Puig was ejected in the aforementioned fight), which allowed Cabrera to score. Gonzalez was intentionally walked before Archer struck out. Pittsburgh retakes the lead, 4-3.
• DeSclafani hit Frazier with a pitch to open the bottom of the 5th, then allowed a single to Francisco Cervelli after getting Starling Marte to fly out. That’d be the day for Disco, who really didn’t seem to be helped by the fracas in the 4th. David Hernandez came into relieve and allowed a pile of runs. By the time it was over, the Pirates extended their lead to 7-3.
• Matt Kemp (also in because of the ejections) led off the 8th with a bloop single, and he’d come all the way around to score the easy way by Derek Dietrich’s 2-out, second 2-run dinger of the day. He didn’t admire it quite as long this time, as to not hurt the Pirates fee-fees any more. Pirates still up, 7-5.
• That would be all the rallying the Reds would muster, however. Pirates win, 7-5.

Tony Graphanino

Other Notes

• Things really popped off in the top of the 4th inning. Apparently, Chris Archer didn’t much like Derek Dietrich’s, um, admiration of the home run he hit the first time up. So, Archer threw the ball at him. Instead of immediately tossing Archer like he should have, the home plate umpire issued a warning to both benches, which really got under the skin of Reds manager David Bell, who came flying out of the dugout to argue the decision. This led to both benches coming out onto the field for a chat. Things got pretty heated, but there wasn’t necessarily a lot of action, other than that someone said something to Yasiel Puig that really pissed him off.
• After it was all said and done, David Bell, Yasiel Puig, and Amir Garrett were tossed from the Reds, while Felipe Vazquez and Keone Kela were ejected for the Pirates.
• The baseballs were being absolutely mashed in this game. Josh Bell’s homer over the batter’s eye was 474 feet. Dietrich’s blast into the river was 436 feet. His second home run only wen’t 418. Some really impressive feats of strength, if you ask me.
• While all the fireworks were going off during the game, the Reds announced they have traded a player or cash to the Diamondbacks for 1B/OF Rob Refsnyder. So, he’s the newest addition to the Louisville Bats.
• The Reds are off tomorrow, but will ramp up a three gamer on Tuesday with the Maimi Marlins. Luis Castillo will make his third start of the season, and this time against a former organization of his. Jose Urena is scheduled to go for the Marlins. First pitch on Tuesday is scheduled for 6:40 PM EDT.
• Tunes.