Joey Votto belatedly celebrates Canada Day with 2-run homer, leads Reds past Nationals

Canadian Confederation is celebrated each and every year north of the border on July 1st on Canada Day, commemorating the date in which that lovely event happened back in 1867. I’m certain Joey Votto meant to homer on Saturday to celebrate, but at least he managed to dig deep and discover the 2-run big fly on Monday that led the Cincinnati Reds past the Washington Nationals in a 3-2 victory.

The good thing, on many levels, is that Votto now holds dual citizenship as a card-carrying member of the United States Person Organization, meaning he’ll likely try to swat another 2-run blast tomorrow on the States’ version of Independence Day, too.

He’s tonight’s Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game, though Luke Weaver’s 5.0 IP of 2 ER ball and Alexis Diaz notching his 24th save of the season certainly are worthy of Honorable Mentions.

Reds 3, Nats 2, and the first of a four-game series is in the bag.

Tony Graphanino

[Link to interactive FanGraphs WPA chart and box score]

Other Notes

• Tyler Stephenson had another 2-hit evening, and added a walk, to boot. Him getting back up to speed offensively would sure be a big, big boost to an already stacked lineup for the season’s second half.
• Whatever a ‘Brett Kennedy’ is will get some serious IP for the Reds in the next two days. He was added to the team’s taxi squad today and whether he starts, or not, he’ll be an IP eater (hopefully) after being activated in the coming days.
• Kennedy is listed by ESPN.com as tomorrow’s starter opposite human home-run giver-upper Patrick Corbin, but we’ll see if the Reds tweak that to use an opener instead. First pitch is dastardly early for those of us who live in Mountain Time, as it’s slated for an 11:05 AM ET start. Tune in accordingly.
• Tunes.