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The good vibes from the series sweep of the Texas Rangers in GABP did not dissipate for the Cincinnati Reds on Friday, neither with their first day-off in weeks nor with the trip all the way out to Oakland for a date with Late Night Baseball. Instead, the offense stayed as hot as it was during its late-inning rallies against Texas, unleashing 16 hits and 11 runs in an 11-7 win over the A’s in the series opener.
It’s hard to pin a Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game award on a single person given the outburst, but Jake Fraley (2 for 4, 2-run tater, 3 runs scored, a walk, and 2 ribbies), Jose Barrero (2 for 5, 2 doubles, 2 ribbies), Nick Senzel (2 for 4, 3 runs, 3 ribbies, a walk), and Jonathan India (2 for 5, run, ribbie, walk, stolen base) all deserve some merit in their own right.
In fact, every single position player had at least 2 hits on the night except for Spencer Steer (0 for 6). I’ll let you guess which position player I carry on my fantasy team, too.
In all, a thorough romp, even though the pitching on the night was iffy, at best. Luis Cessa was borderline cromulent by yielding 3 ER in 5.0 IP as a reliever who’s still being tasked with starting games, while Buck Farmer and Lucas Sims combined for 1.2 IP of scoreless ball. That was better than the 2 ER yielded by Derek Law and the other 2 ER yielded by Fernando Cruz, at least.
An 11-7 win over anyone, even the struggling Oakland A’s, is one worth writing home about, even if it happened way after I went to bed last night and made me wake up and catch up about it today.
Tony Graphanino
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[Link to interactive FanGraphs WPA chart & box score]
Other Notes
- If my ability to remember random tweets I read hours ago remains sound, Fraley’s homer was the first by a left-handed hitter on the Reds roster since April 4th. That’s insane.
- It was Slyde. Slyde said it on Twitter. My rememberbility remains sound and that remains insane.
- Saturday’s game is of the afternoon variety, with a 4:07 PM ET start time set. Hunter Greene will do the pitching opposite lefty Kyle Muller, so expect a righty-heavy lineup from Cincinnati manager David Bell.
- Morning Tunes.
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