Boxscore

The Cincinnati Reds continued their winning ways in the first game against the Houston Astros last night, beating the bottom-dwelling team 9-3.

Mike Leake started for the Reds and turned in a quality start, going 6 innings and allowing just 2 runs on 7 hits, 2 walks, and 6 strikeouts. His good outing netted him his 7th win on the season, giving him a slight chance at joining the rest of the members of the starting rotation with at least 10 wins.

The offense took a few innings to get going against the Astros, but once they started, they didn’t stop. In the 3rd, Zack Cozart broke the scoreless tie with his 15th home run, a 2-run shot that drove in Dioner Navarro. In the 5th, Jay Bruce broke the game open with his 28th home run on the season, driving in Chris Heisey and Ryan Ludwick to make the game 6-2.

The scoring continued in the 7th inning when Brandon Phillips singled in Chris Heisey. And in the 8th, Miguel Cairo had a rare hit to drive in Scott Rolen and advance Navarro to 2nd. A couple batters later, Heisey hit a grounder that scored Navarro.

It was a game that I expected the Reds to win, even with a pitcher in Leake who has struggled at times. Really, I almost expect the Reds to sweep this series. The Astros are that bad of a team. In fact, with this win in Houston, Cincinnati now has more wins at Minute Maid Park since the All Star Break than Houston does: 4-3. That’s some ineptitude that I hope the Reds can take advantage of.

The second game of the series tonight will feature Homer Bailey going against Lucas Harrell. Harrell, who has a record of 10-9, possesses 25% of the Astros’ wins. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 pm EDT.

Boxscore

The Reds completed the sweep of the Diamondbacks yesterday afternoon.

Mat Latos pitched a beauty for the Reds. In 7.0 innings of work he allowed 2 runs (earned) on 5 hits and 3 walks. He struck out 7.

J.J. Hoover pitched the eighth inning and struck out 2 of the 3 batters he faced. Not so much as a baserunner: you’ve gotta love that. Jose Arredondo did allow a baserunner in the ninth inning, but that wasn’t nearly enough for the Diamondbacks.

The offense put on a show like we haven’t seen in a while. The home run hitters were large and in charge. Chris Heisey hit a 2-run shot in the seventh, followed by a solo shot from Dioner Navarro. In the eighth inning, Brandon Phillips hit a 2-run dinger, followed by Heisey again. Plus, Latos went 2-for-3. I love to see the pitcher helping himself out at the plate.

The win puts the Reds’ record at 80-52. They need just one more win to ensure a .500 season. They won’t get it today, though: the boys in red are taking the day off. They’ll be back tomorrow to play the Astros in Houston.

Boxscore

Lots of good things happened in the Reds’ win over the Diamondbacks last night.

Johnny Cueto was the first pitcher to reach 17 wins this season. He did it by working 7.0 innings, giving up 2 runs (earned) on 4 hits and a walk. After that, Jonathan Broxton put in a hitless inning, followed by Aroldis Chapman doing the same for his 33rd save of the year. That’s 25 successful save conversions in a row for Chapman.

The second inning saw Scott Rolen putting his wisdom and patience to good use, driving up the pitch count in a single at bat by 15 pitches before eventually drawing the walk. Combined with singles from Todd Frazier, Chris Heisey, and Ryan Hanigan, the Reds scored 3 runs that inning.

As if that weren’t enough, Brandon Phillips, Ryan Ludwick, and Frazier hooked up again in the eighth inning to put a couple more runs on the board. Phillips, Frazier, Heisey, and Hanigan each had 2-hit games.

The win ensures a win of the series and opens up the possibility of the sweep this afternoon. It brings the Reds’ record to 79-52, which is the best record there is in baseball today. The series capper will feature Mat Latos (RHP, 10-4, 3.84 ERA) taking on Patrick Corbin (LHP, 5-5, 3.91 ERA). First pitch at 3:40 p.m. EDT.

Boxscore

The Reds beat the Diamondbacks in the series opener in Arizona last night, 3-2.

Before the game, @jluckhaupt was heard to tweet:

It’s pretty cool how tonight’s lineup is nearly in ascending OBP order: .292, .229, .331, .346, .335, .354, .335, .382. Dusty’s trolling.

— Joel Luckhaupt (@jluckhaupt) August 27, 2012

Now that’s usually backward, you see. Usually you want your guys who get on base the most to get the most number of at-bats, so you put them highest in the order. Just looking at that string of numbers, though, didn’t quite do it for me. So that’s why I made a little graph in Excel. It’s nothing fancy like some of the stat-enthusiasts will show you, but I thought it captured the trend pretty well:

That’s Drew Stubbs, Wilson Valdez, Brandon Phillips, Ryan Ludwick, Jay Bruce, Todd Frazier, Scott Rolen, and Ryan Hanigan. Of course, I used the OBP numbers from today rather than the ones from yesterday, but seeing as we’re on game 130 of the season, the one game’s worth of data probably doesn’t matter much.

Of course, the guy with the lowest OBP of all isn’t even on the chart. That’s Bronson Arroyo, who gets on base a whopping 17% of the time. Even so, he was the offensive hero last night, giving the Reds the lead in the sixth that would carry them through the night.

But before he could be an offensive star, Arroyo began the game as just a starting pitcher. Arroyo worked 6.0 innings, allowing 2 runs (earned) on 5 hits. He also walked 1. After the sixth, Sean Marshall, Jonathan Broxton, and Aroldis Chapmam each worked a hitless frame. There’s the lights-out bullpen we all know and love! They’ve been missing for a while.

Aside from Arroyo, the other RBI belongs to Brandon Phillips, who was 2-for-3 on the night. Valdez (he of the .229 OBP, you’ll recall) got the most official at-bats and used them to drag down his numbers a little (to .228) with a 1-for-5 night. He did score a run, though, which just shows you never know how people are going to find a way to contribute on this team.

The win brings the Reds’ record to 78-52. They lead the NLC by 6.0 games over the Cardinals. They continue the series tonight against the Diamondbacks. Johnny Cueto (RHP, 16-6, 2.47 ERA) goes against Wade Miley (LHP, 14-8, 2.80 ERA) for Arizona. First pitch at 9:40 pm EDT.

Boxscore

The Reds put in a poor showing against the Cardinals yesterday and wound up the game- and series-losers.

Homer Bailey started for the Reds and had a tough time of it. He pitched 6.0 innings, allowing 5 runs (earned) on 9 hits. It’s weird because he looked so good to start the game. In fact, he only needed 17 pitches to get through the first 2 innings.

Sean Marshall, who came in next, didn’t even start out looking good. He pitched only .2 innings but allowed 2 runs (earned) on 4 hits in that amount of time. Sam LeCure had to come in to get the final out of the seventh and pitch the eighth. LeCure was the only pitcher not to give up any runs.

Jose Arredondo closed it out in the ninth. He allowed 1 more run (as if it were necessary) on 3 hits in the final frame.

That’s a pretty darn mediocre performance from the pitchers, but I’d like to think that the Reds’ offense could come up with more than 2 runs against Wainwright. Instead, only 33 batters even faced Cardinals’ pitching. No one had more than one hit, and several of your favorites didn’t even get that.

Zack Cozart, for example, had a run scored but no hits since he reached on a fielder’s choice. Chris Heisey and Ryan Ludwick each got an RBI with their hits, but Todd Frazier only reached thanks to being hit by a pitch. The other run was scored by Ryan Hanigan, who also made good use of his single.

I don’t know about you, but I could use a day off. And with the way the Reds played last night, I think they could, too. Their last off-day was August 13, and there’s been a double-header since then.

Instead, they head straight to Arizona for a 3-game series with the Diamondbacks starting tonight. Bronson Arroyo (RHP, 10-7, 3.87 ERA) tries to build off his last solid start against Tyler Skaggs (LHP, 1-0, 2.70 ERA). First pitch at 9:40 p.m.