Boxscore

The Cincinnati Reds partied in the clubhouse following their 2012 NL Central win.

The Cubs were the Cubs and lost in extras, which meant the Reds were going to have to take care of business themselves if they wanted to clinch today.

Mat Latos held up his end of the deal, throwing a better 8 innings than Bronson Arroyo did the night before. In his 8 innings, he shutout the Dodgers and allowed 6 hits, no walks, and struck out 7. He’s been amazing the second half of the season, and it’ll be nice to see him in the playoffs. The kid can pitch.

The Reds’ offense was slow to get started again, and it looked for the first third of the game that another excellent start might be wasted. But Jay Bruce–he who hit the division-winning home run back in 2010–came to the plate in the 4th inning and launched his 34th home run of the season into the right field seats. That put the Reds on the board and gave them a lead they would never relinquish.

Plus, it gave Bruce home runs in consecutive division-clinching games. I think that a new rule should be passed saying he has to do that moving forward.

After that, the offense woke up. In the 5th, Todd Frazier singled in Brandon Phillips. In the 7th, Phillips hit his 18th home run. And in the 8th, the Reds scored a total of 3 runs, one from a sacrifice bunt from Chris Heisey, and 2 from a single from Zack Cozart.

Afterwards, the Reds partied on the field and in the clubhouse, but I have a feeling their work isn’t done. In 2010, the team hadn’t had a winning season in a decade, so the division was an achievement. This time, most of the players remember the early playoff exit, and none of them want that again.

The Reds do still have the best record in the National League and home-field advantage throughout the post-season to play for, but I imagine we’ll start seeing the regulars rested. Even though tonight’s game will be ESPN’s Sunday night game, don’t be surprised to see a lot of backups in the line up. Homer Bailey will start for Cincinnati, while for the Dodgers, Clayton Kershaw will start, if he’s deemed healthy enough. Otherwise, expect to see Aaron Harang. The first pitch is scheduled for 8:05pm.

I wore my Reds tweet-up shirt to Best Buy yesterday to buy a couple discount DVDs, and the guy at the checkout counter was telling me how he hoped the Reds could win 100 games. That *would* be cool, but, yeah, probably not. For one thing, they’d have to win 80% of the remaining games. For another thing, they’re going to be resting up a bit, waiting for all the other divisions to get won.

Keep your edge, guys.

Boxscore

Bronson Arroyo threw 8 innings of 1-run baseball, as well as driving in the team’s lone run.

Bronson Arroyo had another nice start, this time going 8 innings and allowing 1 run on 6 hits and no walks. He struck out 4. During that time, the offense managed one meager run, and that was driven in from Arroyo’s bat.

The game stayed tied at 1-run apiece through regulation, and extra innings were forced. Sam LeCure started the top of the 10th, but quickly got into trouble. He hit his first batter. Two sacrifice bunts later–one of which did not result in any outs–LeCure walked the bases loaded.

At this point, substitute manager Chris Speier called on Sean Marshall to attempt to escape the 1-out, bases-loaded jam. Marshall started out well, striking out Andre Ethier. But the next batter, Matt Kemp, singled to right field, driving in 2 and giving the Dodgers the lead.

The Reds managed nothing but a walk in the bottom of the 9th in their failed comeback attempt.

The Reds’ magic number remains one. Assuming the Cardinals don’t collapse against the Cubs again, the Reds will attempt to clinch the division this afternoon at 4:05 pm. Mat Latos goes for Cincinnati, while Stephen Fife goes for the Dodgers.

Boxscore

Didi Gregorius drives in Denis Phipps to break the shut-out and give the Reds the lead.

Cueto wasn’t Cueto, but he was pitching against the Chicago Cubs, so it didn’t matter. Over 6 innings, Cueto allowed no runs on 5 hits with a season-high of 4 walks. He struck out 2. But thanks to the offense finally coming through in the top of the 7th, he was able to get the win.

That top of the 7th inning was the only time the Reds scored. The lack of runs could’ve been due to the minor league line-up the Reds were using, but again, it was the Cubs. And in the 7th, the lineup they scored 5, which was one more than they needed.

With runners on 1st and 3rd, Didi Gregorius singled to right to break the scoreless tie. Then Joey Votto pinch-hit for Cueto and laced the 2nd pitch he saw into left field to drive in another run. Xavier Paul and Henry Rodriguez finished out the scoring with hits of their own.

The bullpen was shaky, with Jose Arredondo, Logan Ondrusek, and Alfredo Simon all allowing runs. Considering the small number of runs the bullpen’s been allowing lately, it was kind of nice for them to allow some when the team had a big lead.

In the end, the 5-run deficit the Cubs faced was too much to overcome. The Reds won by a score of 5-3, sweeping the series and lowering their magic number to 2. Should the St. Louis Cardinals lose to the Cubs tomorrow and the Reds defeat the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Reds will clinch the division. Bronson Arroyo will go against Joe Blanton at 7:10pm.