Tony Santillan’s excellent debut leads Reds to 6-2 win over Rockies & series sweep

The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game

It was the MLB debut for Tony Santillan on the day, and while he certainly would have wished it last a tad longer, he was still plenty effective in the series finale for the Cincinnati Reds in their conquest of the Colorado Rockies.

Despite being dinged for a run almost immediately, Santigold kept the Rockies offense off the board from then on, eventually firing 4.2 IP of 5 H, ER, 4 BB, 5 K ball on 97 pitches. The walks cost him distance in this game, but fortunately did not truly haunt, and this was largely an excellent first taste of big league action that he’ll be able to build on.

Congrats, Tony, and welcome to the show.

Honorable Mentions are due to: Eugenio Suarez, who bashed a 2-run tater, continuing the somewhat hilarious ‘all or nothing’ season he’s put together so far; Joey Votto, who singled, scored, and socked in the 992nd ribbie of his career; Jesse Winker, who doubled twice and plated a pair; and Lucas Sims, who was excellentin a 2 IP closeout of the game.

Key Plays

• The Rockies greeted Santillan with some immediate noise in his debut, as Raimel Tapia began the Top of the 1st with a single and moved to 3B a batter later on Yanathan Daza’s ground-rule double. That put a runner in position to tag and score on Charlie Blackmon’s deep fly out to LF, and the Reds trailed early, 1-0.
• The Reds got that run back and more in the Bottom of the 2nd, however. Naquin began things with a double, he scored on Votto’s ribbie knock into LF, and Votto then scored on Geno’s 2-run bonk into the LF seats off Colorado starter Antonio Senzatela. Reds led, 3-1.
• The bullpen limped on thanks to duct tape and sody pop for awhile, but Heath Hembree was eventually tagged by Ryan McMahon for a solo bong in the Top of the 7th, one that left the Reds ahead just a lone run at 3-2.
• Fortunately, the Reds offense played add-on in the Bottom of the 7th. Kyle Farmer was hit by a Senzatela pitch and moved to 3B a batter later when Shogo Akiyama smacked a pinch-hit double. That chased Senzatela for the Rockies bullpen, with Carlos Estevez entering the game. He immediately walked Jonathan India to load the bags with nobody yet out before Winker plated a pair with a chpper slash hustle-double slash BABIP-special up the middle. A Tyler Naquin sac-fly followed, and the Reds held a commanding 6-2 lead, which held.

Tony Graphanino

Other Notes

• Monday will see the renewal of the Reds/Brewers clashes, this time with Milwaukee’s Miller Park playing host. It’s still Miller Park, damnit. It is. Eric Lauer will toe the rubber for the Beers in the series opener, and as a lefty, expect there to be some interesting lineup adjustments as a result. Maybe even some Aristides Aquino in CF, or some craziness, since he was activated earlier today in a series of roster moves that included Mark Payton optioned and Nick Senzel moved to the 60-day IL. Vlad Gutierrez will start for Cincinnati, with first pitch set for 8:10 PM ET.
• The Reds are officially back over .500, baby.
• Tunes.