The RHM crew had the pleasure of attending Saturday night’s game between the Cincinnati Reds and the Houston Astros. Our seats were much better than the last time we saw a game, as evidenced by the much closer photos.

Joey Votto exposed some skin to the crowd after his double. Once on base, he always puts on a knee brace.

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Boxscore

Bronson Arroyo prepares to start the game against the Houston Astros, where he ended up getting his 12th win of the season.

Well, I guess it wasn’t that easy. Arroyo did allow a run in the first inning to start the game, but he recovered and allowed no more runs after that. He turned in an excellent start for his 12th win, going 7 innings, giving up just the 1 run on 7 hits and 2 walks, with 5 strikeouts. Sean Marshall and Jonathan Broxton finished the game throwing a shutout inning apiece.

Despite the early one-run deficit, the offense wasn’t intimidated. Jay Bruce tied it with his 33rd home run in the second. And then Brandon Phillips tied it in the next inning with a solo shot of his own, a line drive to right that just cleared the wall.

It was a 1-run game until the 6th, when the Reds broke the game open by sending every batter to the plate and scoring 3 runs. Joey Votto led the inning off with a double. A line out and a couple walks later, the bases were loaded for Ryan Hanigan, who singled to right field to drive in Votto.

The next batter was the non-hitter Wilson Valdez. Because it was the Astros, his ground ball back to the pitcher, which should have been an inning-ending double-play, ended up driving in two instead. The pitcher, Fernando Rodriquez, seemed to slip while fielding the ball. At that point, he had no play at any base, but decided to throw to home anyway. It was a wild throw, and ended up in the Reds dugout.

That was the end of the scoring for both teams. The win combined with a St. Louis Cardinals loss dropped the Reds’ magic number to 14.

Boxscore

Aroldis Chapman wipes his brow after seeing his streak of 27 successful saves in a row end.

Of course, if this is like the last time Chapman realized he was mortal, he’ll quickly forget it and move on to another string of 20 or more saves in a row. Which should hopefully take the team straight through the World Series. Yes, I can get behind the idea of no more blown saves until next year.

The blown save was unfortunate in many ways. The Reds lost to a crappy team and were unable to add a game to their lead over the St. Louis Cardinals, who lost in extras. Also, it made Homer Bailey unable to get his career-high 11th win. After struggling in the first inning, he settled down and had himself a very solid outing, allowing 2 runs–all in the first–on 5 hits and 1 walk while striking out 9.

Of course, if the Reds’ offense hadn’t disappeared against the Astros, Chapman never would’ve been in the position to be holding a 1 run lead. After Bailey spotted the Astros 2 runs in the top of the first, the Reds came right back. Brandon Phillips and Chris Heisey reached on singles, and then Joey Votto walked. Next, Ryan Ludwick drove in Phillips and Heisey with a single to left field.

Unfortunately, the scoring stopped there, thanks to a Jay Bruce line out and a Todd Frazier double play. Oh, what could have been.

The Reds took the lead in the 5th when Bruce drove in Heisey. But they were never able to increase the lead from 1 run.

The Reds try again this evening when they send Bronson Arroyo against Bud Norris at 7:10pm EDT. And they better win this time because I’ll be in attendance.

Chris Jaffe has great piece today in The Hardball Times about a trade that outshines even The Trade for suckiness.

Not only did it rob the Reds of a player they would have been better off to have around, but it gave the opponent (the Cardinals) a pivotal piece in their success at the time (which is something you’d probably wouldn’t say about The Trade).

The year was 1957, and the player in question was a 19-year-old prospect named Curt Flood. They sent Flood to the Cardinals for three guys you probably never heard of: Marty Kutyna, Willard Schmidt, and Ted Wieand.

Those guys didn’t amount to much, but Flood “became a three time All-Star who received modest support in MVP voting a half-dozen times and was the greatest defensive outfielder of his generation. And the Cardinals would get virtually his entire career, during which he helped them win three pennants and two world titles in the 1960s.”

You’ll want to head over to The Hardball Times to check out the rest of the story about the outfield that might have been if the Reds had kept Flood around.

And his story goes beyond that. Flood played an instrumental part in the introduction of Free Agency. This post about his free agency battle is a year old, but 1) that length of time doesn’t seem very relevant when you’re talking about events in the 1950s, and 2) it’s where I swiped the picture from, so I want to give them some link love.