Joey Votto homers, triples to power Reds past Cubs, 4-3

Joey Votto entered play on Wednesday having faced off against Chicago Cubs starter Kyle Hendricks 52 times in his illustrious career, in which time he’s done a whole pile of sockin’. To be more precise, he’d gone 13 of 26 against Hendricks with 4 homers and a Vottonian 15/7 BB/K, the kind of offensive dominance that’s impressive even by Votto’s own elite standards.

Despite it being almost impossible to improve upon a career line like that, that’s exactly what Votto managed to pull off tonight, as he homered and tripled in a 3-ribbie performance that led the Cincinnati Reds to a 4-3 win. That, folks, is Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game kind of work.

It was enough to help the Reds turn around an early 2-run deficit, one that came after Luis Castillo surrendered a pair in the game’s opening frame. Fortunately, as Votto and the bats began their climb, so, too, did Castillo, as he settled down for the rest of his evening and held Chicago to only those 2 ER in his 5.0 IP. He fanned 6 against a lone walk, and once again looked as if he’s rounding into the kind of form we all know he’s got.

It’s not enough to put the Reds on-path to win this series, seeing as they lost the first two, but at least it keeps hopes alive of salvaging a split.

Tony Graphanino (link)

Other Notes

• Joey Votto added a late walk, too, because of course he did. It pissed off Cubs pitcher Rowan Wick something fierce, which is hilarious. Wick sucks. Wait...
• Art Warren, Alexis Diaz, and Tony Santillan all managed to put up zeros in their respective IPs out of the bullpen this evening, something that’s been very, very hard to say so far this season. The same could not be said for Hunter Strickland, who yielded a run in the Top of the 9th to make this one a squeaker.
• Nick Senzel made yet another half-handful of excellent defensive plays in CF tonight. No, the bat hasn’t arrived yet. No, he’s not managed to stay as healthy as we’ve all hoped. That said, the dude was tasked with switching to a completely new defensive position as a CF, and he’s rounded into incredible form out there, and that in itself deserves a tremendous amount of dap.
• Tomorrow’s game is of the matinee variety, with first pitch scheduled for 12:35 PM ET. It’s also Hunter Greene day, so make sure you block off ample time to watch him slice through the Cubs lineup.
• Tunes.