Jesse Winker homers three times as Reds sweep the Cardinals

The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game

Jesse Winker, man. Our guy came into today’s game hitting .341/.403/.617, one of the best lines in baseball, and he only made those numbers look better. He went 3 for 4 with 3 ding dongs and 6 RBI, and pretty much single-handedly kept the Reds in this game. Have a trophy, man.

Honorable mentions are due to: Wade Miley, who pitched 5 shutout innings, allowing only 4 hits and 2 walks while striking out 8; Lucas Sims, who worked around trouble and earned the save with 3 straight outs; Shogo Akiyama, for coming on in

Key Plays

• The Reds wasted no time getting out in front today. Jonathan India led off the game with a single to center. Jesse Winker followed him up with his first dinger of the day to give the Reds an early 2-0 lead.
• The Reds extended their lead in top of the 2nd. Tucker Barnhart led off with a walk. After a couple of outs, Jonathan India was able to get himself hit by a pitch to put runners on first and second. That, again, brought up Jesse Winker who launched a 3-run piss missile to right-center to extend the Reds’ lead to 5-0.
• The Reds kept on rolling on offense right into the top of the third. Tyler Stephenson and Shogo Akiyama each hit singles to start off the inning. Eugenio Suarez then hit one to the wall in left to score both of them and make the game 7-0. Easy Peasy, right?
• Wrong. Things went to shit in the bottom of the 6th. Nolan Arenado started with a single and then scored on a Tyler O’Neill dinger. 2-0. Edmundo Sosa then walked and moved to second on a single by Jose Rondon. Andrew Knizner loaded the bases with a single of his own. That would get reliever Michael Ruiz out of the game and leave the relief duties up to Brad Brach. Matt Carpener would smoke a double off the glove of Shogo Akiyama to cut the lead to 7-4. An infield single by Tommy Edmond would cut it to 7-5 and end Brach’s night. Tejay Antone then came in and got a line out double play pretty quickly off the bat of Paul Goldschmidt. But unfortunately Nolan Arenado would tie the game with a 2-run single.
• Things stayed tied until the top of the 9th, when Jesse Winker hit his third dinger of the game to give the Reds an 8-7 lead.
• Lucas Sims worked around some early trouble but was able to shut the door and give the Reds an 8-7 victory.

Tony Graphanino

Other Notes

• Today was the 4-year anniversary of Scooter Gennett’s 4 home run game against the Cardinals. Neat-o.
• Tyler Naquin had to leave the game after the 2nd inning with hamstring tightness. Bummer. Hopefully he can get back out there soon.
• The Reds are off tomorrow before starting a 3-game series with the Milwaukee Brewers. Sonny Gay (1-4, 3.64) will start for the Reds against Adrian Houser (3-5, 3.86) of Milwaukee. Go Reds.
• Tunes.