Boxscore

Well, that sucked.

Johnny Cueto turned in his worst start of the 2012 season for the Cincinnati Reds, lasting only 4 innings and allowing 6 runs–5 earned–while giving up 8 hits and 2 walks and striking out 2. His ERA ballooned to 1.89.

The offense turned in what you would expect from a Dusty Baker-led team: 2 runs. Those were driven in by Ryan Hanigan and Drew Stubbs in the 7th.

The Reds fell back to 1 game above .500, where I feel they will continue to flounder so long as Baker is the manager. Joey Votto can only hit so many walk-off grand slams. I’d really prefer they fired him now before too much more of the season is wasted.

The Reds split the short, 2-game series with the Atlanta Braves and fell 2.5 games behind the St. Louis Cardinals. Tomorrow, they travel to New York to take on the Mets at 7:10pm EDT. Mike Leake starts for the Reds, while the Mets counter with Johan Santana.

COLUMBUS, OH – FOX Sports Ohio is pleased to air the Pepsi MAX Field of Dreams Game on Saturday, May 19 at 4:30pm, or following Reds Live postgame show after the Reds-Yankees game.

The baseball game took place this past Saturday, May 12 at Huntington Park. It featured a dream team of MLB legends, including Johnny Bench, Frank Thomas, and Reggie Jackson, playing six innings against the winner of the Pepsi MAX Field of Dreams contest, Columbus resident Tim Wisecup and his ten friends.

Last fall, fans had the chance to visit mlb.com/pepsimax to vote for which of four finalists they wanted to host the Pepsi MAX Field of Dreams Team, and now Wisecup will have this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to play ball against the starting Dream Team comprised of:

• Catcher – Johnny Bench
• First Baseman – Frank Thomas
• Second Baseman – Edgar Martinez
• Third Baseman – Wade Boggs
• Shortstop – Ozzie Smith
• Outfielders – Reggie Jackson, Rickey Henderson, Dave Winfield
• Pitcher – Pedro Martinez
• Relief Pitcher – Dennis Eckersley

Appearances were also made by Joe Charboneau, Lenny Barker, and Kent Mercker.

FOX Sports Ohio’s telecast on Saturday, May 19 will be a one-hour version of the game. It will air at 4:30pm, or following the Reds Live postgame show after the Reds-Yankees game. George Grande called play by play and David Maezhold and Natalie Taylor served as dugout reporters, interviewing MLB legends and Wisecup.

In addition to the May 19 broadcast, replays will air on the following dates:

• May 20 at 7pm
• May 26 at 3pm
• June 2 at 12pm

Joey Votto made history yesterday, and Cooperstown took notice. Though his three-homer performance against the Washington Nationals wasn’t a first (heck, Votto has done it before himself), it was the first time one of those three home runs was a walk-off grand slam.

The Hall of Fame has requested the bat that so punished all those balls:

“It’s an honor for the Hall of Fame to be interested in something of mine,” Votto said. “It’s a first for me, and I’m happy about it.”

Though it was Mother’s Day, it was a black bat that’s going to the Hall, according to the story on Reds.com. On the pre-game show tonight, Votto was saying that it was a bat he was sad to part ways with, it being particularly well made, even among all the well-made bats Louisville Slugger provides.

In fact, Votto did go hitless tonight without that bat, though he was lacking many opportunities. The Braves walked him twice.

Boxscore

The Reds continued their role as NLE spoiler tonight by knocking the Braves back into second place behind the Nationals by winning 3-1.

It was Homer Bailey on the mound to start things off against a formidable Braves’ offense. He worked 6.2 innings, allowing 1 run (earned) on 6 hits and 2 walks. Logan Ondrusek and Aroldis Chapman then came on to put in .2 inning apiece, with Ondrusek being the lucky one to be on the mound when the win came. Sean Marshall closed it out for the save.

Though everyone was still talking about Joey Votto’s three-homer game, walk-off grand slam, and bat going into the Hall of Fame, it was the right-handers who knocked in the runs for a change. Brandon Phillips and Chris Heisey had an RBI apiece. In fact, Heisey went 3-for-3. Not bad.

Tomorrow the Reds and Braves finish out the two-game series. With Johnny Cueto (4-0, 1.12 ERA) taking the mound against Tim Hudson (1-1, 4.50 ERA), the chances for a sweep seem better than they have all season.