Wade Miley leads Reds in shutout win over Brewers to wrap doubleheader

The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game

When the Cincinnati Reds doled out a 2-year, $15 million contract (with a club option) to sign Wade Miley this winter, there was ample evidence to suggest it would be just, just fine. Maybe good, even. Definitely low-risk, especially given the connection with pitching coach Derek Johnson.

The early returns with Miley, of course, simply weren’t there. Not the kind of thing that made you question the meaning of life, or anything else like we’ve seen all day everyday in 2020, but concerns. Over the last two outings, though, we’ve begun to get a glimpse of the pitcher the Reds intended to sign to that deal, and tonight was the single best spotlight.

Miley threw 4 innings of scoreless, 1 hit ball tonight, commanding the zone in an efficient 64 pitch outing that showed exactly what he can be when healthy and dialed in. And as back-end starting pitcher options go, that’s absolutely as good as you can hope for.

Honorable Mentions are due to: Jesse Winker, who went 2 for 4 with a double, ribbie, and run scored; Eugenio Suarez, who bonked a late 2-run homer; Kyle Farmer, who singled, doubled, and drove in a run; Mike Moustakas, who had 2 hits and a walk; Raisel Iglesias, who looked electric in his clean 9th 7th inning; and Lucas Sims, who was completely filthy from the ‘pen, firing a pair of scoreless IP to lower his season ERA to a nice 0.69.

Key Plays

• The Reds struck first in this one, too. The Top of the 2nd saw Moustakas lace a single into RF, and he moved up a bag when Freddy Galvis was hit by a Josh Lindblom pitch. Farmer then hooked a single into LF to drive in Moose, while Tucker Barnhart followed with an RBI single into CF, too. Reds led early, 2-0.
• Freddy Peralta took the mound for the Brewers in the Top of the 5th, and as the old adage long ago warned, Walks Will Haunt. Shogo Akiyama coaxed one in front of the red-hot Nick Castellanos, and Shogo managed to score all the way from 1B thanks to Nick’s double to the wall in left-center and a well placed slide. Winker then followed with a double into the RF corner, and the Reds held a 4-0 lead.
• Suarez’s dinger put a bow on this one in the Top of the 7th, putting the Reds ahead with a 7-0 lead they would not relinquish.

Tony Graphanino

Other Notes

• This was game 30 of the 60 game season.
• The Reds return home for play on Friday, where they’ll open a weekend set against the division-leading Chicago Cubs. Do yourself a favor and type ‘division-leading Chicago Cubs’ and try not to vomit on your shirt. Anyhoo, it’ll be Kyle Hendricks and Tyler Mahle on the mound to start, with first pitch set for 7:10 PM ET.
• Joey Votto sat for both games of today’s doubleheader. Considering Mike Moustakas moved to 1B for both - a position that he doesn’t really play - while Freddy Galvis moved to 2B - a position that he doesn’t really play - in cahoots with Jose Garcia being promoted to the bigs, there’s certainly some question just how deep this Votto time-off is going to be. It’s not often you see such a linked-together series of moves if something’s going to be very short term.
• That said, Votto’s home/road splits this year have been wider than the Pacific this year, with his home production vintage Votto. So, with the club heading home, perhaps we’ll actually see him back in the lineup this weekend?
• Tunes.