Jesse Winker homers, homers, and homers again as Reds pound Brewers, 9-4

The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game

Jesse Winker socked a solo dinger for the Cincinnati Reds.

Then, Jesse Winker socked another one.

After that, Jesse Winker socked a third. A-one, a-two, a-three...CRUNCH.

The Milwaukee Brewers simply had no answer for the MVP of the Reds offense to date. Frankly, hardly any team in baseball has had one for quite some time, and tonight Winker got a chance to put his exploits on display for a national audience, too.

Congrats to Jesse, and here’s hoping it’s the kind of thing that can galvanize the club as they face a bit of roster adversity over the next week.

Honorable Mentions are due to: Tyler Naquin, who socked a huge dinger and later walked; Amir Garrett, who tossed a clean IP of relief; and Tyler Stephenson, who walked twice as a Cincinnati Reds 1B as an homage to the GOAT (and scored a run, and was robbed of a would-be double).

Key Plays

• Winker greeted Adrian Houser with a single to lead off the Bottom of the 1st, and Houser later walked Tyler Stephenson, too. That set the stage for Naquin to drink from the goblet of dingerdom, sloshing a massive 459 foot dirigible into the seats beyond the RF wall. Reds led early, 3-0.
• Walks, as they are so often wont to do, haunt. Such was the case for Jeff Hoffman in the Top of the 2nd, who issued a trio in a row after an early Daniel Vogelbach infield single, forcing in a run before managing to escape further damage in a 30+ pitch inning. Reds led, 3-1.
• Winker again greeted Houser, this time in the Bottom of the 3rd with a 431 foot solo blast onto the grass beyond the CF wall, one that gave the Reds a 4-1 advantage.
• The greetings continued in the Bottom of the 5th, as Winker wrecked Houser for another solo blast. That made him 8 for 13 in his career off the Brewers righty in his career - with a whopping 5 bongs. A subsequent Nick Castellanos single and Stephenson walk ended Houser’s night in favor of Angel Perdomo, who then walked Naquin to load the bags with only 1-out. Tucker Barnhart then lifted a deep sac-fly to tack on another run, and the Reds held a 6-1 advantage.
• Milwaukee small-balled their way into an initial run in the Top of the 7th off Lucas Sims via sac-fly, and a later double to the wall in LF by Lorenzo Cain gave them yet another. That ended Sims’ night and made it a 6-3 game, with Tejay Antone coming on to face Christian Yelich. Antone got Yelich to ground out to 3B, but another run came in on the putout and the Reds held a 6-4 lead.
• The Reds struck back in the Bottom of the 7th, however. After Cain robbed Stephenson of what would’ve been a leadoff double, Josh Lindblom walked both Eugenio Suarez and Tucker Barnhart, while respective RBI-singles from Kyle Farmer and Jonathan India then followed. Reds led, 8-4.
• Winker played add-on in the Bottom of the 8th off Lindblom, swatting yet another solo blast that put the Reds ahead, 9-4, which is how this wrapped.

Tony Graphanino

Other Notes

• Jeff Hoffman was having a rough time harnessing the movement on his pitches throughout his start, though in many ways that eventually ended up being effectively wild. Still, he managed to scatter just 2 H and 4 BB across 5 IP and allowed a lone run in the process, fanning 7 in his 99 pitch day. Not often pretty, but certainly effective.
• Prior to tonight’s game, the Reds made a series of significant roster moves.
• Saturday’s contest between Cincinnati and Milwaukee will feature a pair of vets on the mound to start. Brett Anderson - who is neither Tyler Anderson nor Chase Anderson - will toe the rubber for the Beers, while Sonny Gray will toe it for the Reds. First pitch is set for an early 4:10 PM ET start.
• Tunes.