The Reds buckled the swashes of the Pirates today in Sarasota, 7-2.

That was a ridiculous thing to say, and I apologize. Let's start over:

The Reds swashed the buckles of the Pirates today in Sarasota, 7-2.

Brandon Claussen put in four innings to start. He allowed two runs (one earned) on five hits with four freakin' strike-outs. You go boy.

Ryan Wagner came in to pitch the fifth and retired the three batters he faced on just nine pitches with no strike-outs. I guess he hasn't worked past that whole “pitch-to-contact” idea just yet. Hard to complain though. You, also, go boy.

David Weathers, Kent Mercker, Rick White, and Chris Hammond also each contributed a scoreless inning. All you boys go.

Adam Dunn contributed one of his signature solo shots in the fourth inning; it was his second home run of the spring.

Felipe Lopez, Heartthrob Denorfia, and Quinton McCracken each stole a base. Everybody's favorite base stealing machine, Ryan Freel, went 1-for-3 on the day with a run scored, but his two strike out limited his base pilfering opportunities.

Little Eddie Encarnación went 2-for-3. He scored two runs, but failed to knock any in. And not even one home run. Poor kid. Dewayne Wise, recently very hot, did nothing worth mentioning. So why am I mentioning it?

The win brings the Reds's Grapefruit League record to 9-7. Tomorrow the Reds visit the Blue Jays in Dunedin at 1:05 p.m. We should be approaching Georgia's northern border about then.