ByWith the 14th pick in the first round of the First Year Player Draft, the Reds have selected RHP Nick Travieso. Congratulations, kid. Maybe we’ll see you in 3 or 4 years.
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John Fay is reporting that 31-year old LHP Jeff Francis has become a free agent and is testing the major league waters to see if anyone will give him a chance. He had an out in his contract that allowed him to elect free agency on June 1.
He’s rocking a 3.72 ERA with AAA Louisville, which is previous years probably would have gotten him a look. That 3-6 record he sports isn’t a shiny, but we all know how that can go for pitchers, plus he’s coming off a really great start against the Tampa Bay Ray’s minor league affiliate.
This isn’t the best team to be trying to bust in to with the way the bullpen has been performing, so looking around might uncover just the opportunity he’s looking for. If not, though, it sounds like he’s got the opportunity to come back to the Reds. There’s bound to be an injury at some point (knock on wood).
ByThe New York Mets finally got their first no-hitter in team history, and the St. Louis Cardinals were unlucky enough to be the opposing team.
The city’s newspaper covered it with the grace and style you would expect from the city of the self-proclaimed “Best fans in baseball.” Just kidding. They whined and added an asterisk to the headline for Johan Santana’s historic achievement.
Considering the Cardinals history of whining–in Reds’ games and in games against others–makes me think this headline needs a little modification.
There, isn’t that much better?
By| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reds | 3 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 12 | 14 | 1 |
| Astros | 2 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 14 | 2 |
The Reds set themselves up for a series sweep last night by winning the second game against the Astros, 12-9.
Mat Latos started for the Reds against notorious Reds killer, Wandy Rodriguez. However, Latos was in true April form and turned out to be closer to a Reds killer than his opponent. In 3.1 innings of work, he allowed 7 runs (4 earned) on 7 hits and a walk. Then came the parade of most of the bullpen:
What are we to do with young Latos? He’s probably put too much pressure on himself. After all, here he is on a better team than he’s used to, where they paid a lot to bring him on board, and lots of other people around him are 50 shades of awesome. I wouldn’t like to see him given the Sean Marshall treatment, but they are going to have to figure something out. You can’t be running five relievers out there every five days.
For a change, though, the offense did the pitchers a solid and got back anything that got given away. Though they only lost the lead once, it felt to me, as a fan, like they were behind from the third inning on. It was oddly grim, especially considering how the line came out.
With so much offense, it’s hard to list everyone’s contribution. I guess games like this just lend themselves to bullet lists:
The win brings the Reds record to 30-22 and gives them a 3.5 game lead in the NLC. They’re finished the series as I write this. Bronson Arroyo took on Jordan Lyles.
By| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reds (29-22) | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 0 |
| Astros (22-30) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 0 |
After losing a series to the Pittsburgh Pirates, I wasn’t sure what to expect from the Cincinnati Reds as they opened a series with the Houston Astros yesterday. Especially with Mike Leake starting, who hasn’t been what you would call “good” this year.
Perhaps the offense was concerned, too, as they opened the top of the first inning with several strung together hits to give the Reds a 2-0 lead before Leake ever took the mound. Votto started things off with 2 outs in the first with a single. Brandon Phillips followed with a double that drove Votto home. And then Jay Bruce drove in Phillips. It’s awesome to see the heart of the lineup produce like that.
Then it was Leake’s turn to hold the lead, which he did over his 7 innings. He allowed just 1 run on 4 hits, 3 walks, and 7 strikeouts. Leake has two good starts out of his last three now, which coincide perfectly with his two wins. Hopefully, we’ll see more of the outings like yesterday and not like the one before when he couldn’t make it out of the 4th.
After Leake, the bullpen held the lead. Logan Ondrusek pitched a scoreless 8th, and Aroldis Chapman struck out the side in the 9th for his 4th save.
Thanks to the St. Louis Cardinals being no-hit by the New York Mets, the Reds now have a 2.5 game lead in first place. They’ll try to increase that even more today when Mat Latos starts against Wandy Rodriguez at 7:15pm EDT.
