Homers galore power Cincinnati Reds to 13-1 win over Pirates

I know I say something like this every year. I’ve been lucky to say something like this every year. Still, it once again seems like just minutes ago that the Cincinnati Reds packed GABP for Opening Day, the blustery April breeze off the Ohio River making us all wonder just how much it stings to hit a 96 mph fastball in that kind of cool while the beers made us feel all warm and cozy inside.

Today, the Reds downed the Pittsburgh Pirates once again, and in doing so closed the curtain on the home slate of their 2021 schedule. GABP played host to these Reds for the final time until next spring, a length of time that is tough to even begin to think about.

Joey Votto returned to the lineup and swatted another pair of homers, his second a titanic 466 foot blast that nearly exited the ball park entirely. Eugenio Suarez backed him with a homer of his own to continue a September surge that hopefully will prove his season-long struggles before that were merely an aberration, while Nick Castellanos kept right on swatting with a homer in his 4th straight game. Jonathan India refused to be retired while also socking a dinger, Max Schrock kept getting on base, too, and the Reds offense gave GABP the season swansong it deserved with a 13-1 dismantling of the Pirates.

The schedule finally got easy, it would appear.

Of course, it was easy from start to finish on the scoreboard thanks to the excellent MLB debut by Reiver Sanmartin, too. The rookie lefty fired 5.2 innings of 1 ER ball, fanning 5 while scattering 5 hits and a lone walk in his 93 pitch outing. Reiver joined the Reds in the Sonny Gray deal, you’ll recall, a deal that continues to look like one of the more savvy moves the Reds have made in recent memory (miss you, Dick Williams).

In all, it was a pretty glorious way to wrap the season in the home uniforms, one that will officially go down as a ‘winning’ one with #82 now in the history books.

Tony Graphanino

The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game

Votto? India? Sanmartin? You, for continuing to read these things despite the Reds collapse down the stretch?

Who am I to judge?

Other Notes

• Tomorrow will see the Reds take on the Chicago White Sox in Profiteering Capitalism By Commoditizing The Basic Right To Shelter Field. It’ll be the first of a quick two-game series, one that will wrap after another evening game on Wednesday. Both are set for 8:10 PM ET start times, with prospect Riley O’Brien set to make his big league debut as the Reds starter on Tuesday evening.
• The Reds have not announced an official roster move to get O’Brien onto the active roster, but I’m sure they’ll come up with something creative in the morning.
• Tunes.