Brandon Williamson cruises, Reds defeat Marlins 5-2

Hoo boy did the Reds need this one. After losing 3 of 4 to the Cubs and getting swept by the last-place Washington Nationals, the Reds welcomed the Miami Marlins to town Monday night. The Marlins, who are a team who the Reds could be fighting with for a Wild Card spot in September if the division were out of reach, are also on a little skid. They came into the game losing their last 4 games and 6 of the last 7. This was the start to an important series and the Reds were able to take advantage, defeating the Marlins 5-2.

The Reds earned this victory on the back of an impressive performance by Brandon Williamson. Williamson, after struggling in his last start in Chicago, was incredibly efficient tonight, throwing 6.2 innings and allowing only 1 run on 3 hits with no walks and 9 strikeouts. A GABP special allowed to Jorge Soler in the top of the 1st was the only base runner he allowed in the first 6 innings, before he allowed back-to-back singles to start the 7th. That performance was more than enough to earn him tonight’s Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game award.

The Marlins held a 1-0 lead until the bottom of the 3rd, when the Reds got to Marlins starter Eury Perez and took the lead for good. Will Benson got things started with a 1-out walk and then promptly stole 2nd base. After a Stuart Fairchild strikeout, Elly De La Cruz drew a walk to put runners on 1st and 2nd. That brought up TJ Friedl, who smoked a line drive down the right field line for a 2-RBI triple to put the Reds up 2-1.

The Reds weren’t finished there, as they plated a couple more in the 4th inning. Christian Encarnacion-Strand took the 1st pitch of the inning and clobbered it to left field for a solo bomb. Then, about 5 seconds later, Joey Votto took the 1st pitch he saw and drove it to the seats in right to give the Reds a 4-1 lead. A sacrifice fly in the 7th by Spencer Steer would then give the Reds a 5-1 lead. A solo shot by Jazz Chisolm in the 8th would be the only other run the Marlins could muster, as the bullpen shut them down the rest of the way, giving the Reds a 5-2 victory and ending their 6-game skid.

Tony Graphanino

[Link to interactive WPA chart and box score, via FanGraphs]

Other Notes

• An odd situation happened in the top of the 8th. After Tanner Scott got Kevin Newman to strike out swinging, Scott received a visit by the Marlins athletic trainer. That somehow led to manager Skip Schumaker to grit his way into an ejection for arguing something(?). Anyway, that was the quickest “injury” timeout turned ejection I’ve ever seen.
• The Reds scored 4 runs off Eury Perez, which is quite impressive considering he came into the day with a sub-3.00 ERA.
• The Reds look to start another win streak as they send Luke Weaver (2-4, 6.98) gets the start against Braxton Garrett (5-3, 4.14). First pitch is scheduled for 6:40 PM EDT.