Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Marlins (3-13)	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	6	2
Reds (9-7)	0	0	1	4	4	2	0	0	-	11	12	0

Boxscore

What a game that was yesterday! It’s amazing how a four-game winning streak makes you forget all about a five-game losing streak. It’s almost as if winning cures all.

Except for criticizing Joey Votto, but that’s lead to a fabulous new meme.

Yesterday had everything. Good pitching, good offense, and a feel-good story about a bat boy.

Tony Cingrani made his first major league start, in place of an injured Johnny Cueto, and showed that he has the stuff to compete. Granted, it was against the Miami Marlins, so it’s hardly a step above the AAA competition he’s used to, but Cingrani still did well. In five innings, he allowed one run on five hits and three walks and struck out 8.

Cingrani’s clearly a work in progress, as that’s too many people to allow on base to be successful against actual major league teams on a prolonged basis. Additionally, his pitch count of 102 was too high for five innings. Still, there’s some promising stuff there. If I remember correctly, Cueto wasn’t dissimilar to that when he first arrived.

As for the offense, they started in the third and hardly stopped for the rest of the game. While Votto was at the plate, Jose Fernandez unleashed a wild pitch that allowed Shin-Soo Choo to score the Reds’ first run.

In the next inning, the Reds really felt comfortable with Fernandez and put together four hits, a walk, and a sacrifice fly to push their run total to five. They weren’t done, but that was all they’d need. In the fifth, the Reds scored four more. And then in the sixth, Todd Frazier hit his fifth home run of the season to give the Reds 11 runs on the day.

The bullpen held the Marlins scoreless for the rest of the game, ensuring Cingrani’s first start would also be his first win.

The Reds look to extend their win streak tonight when Mat Latos goes against Kevin Slowey. The first pitch is at 7:10pm.

Information about Johnny Cueto’s injury is finally known. He has a strained right lat muscle and will miss at least 3 starts after being placed on the 15-day disabled list.

To take his spot, the Cincinnati Reds moved Ryan Ludwick to the 60-day disabled list and called up right-handed reliever Justin Freeman. Freeman, a reliever, is likely intended to provide some help to an overworked bullpen until it’s Cueto’s next time to start, at which point Tony Cingrani will be called up.

Cueto’s injury is similar to one that had him miss his final 4 starts of 2011, but he’s optimistic he won’t miss that much time.

“I don’t think this is going to affect me at all,” Cueto said through interpreter Tomas Vera. “I think, God willing, I’ll be better in five-six days and I’ll be able to start throwing.”

Being better in 5-6 days would be awesome, but is highly unlikely. Even if he were, there’s no way the Reds rush him back. The season is way too early to take an unnecessary risk like that.

Still, Cueto’s a hard pitcher to replace. The sooner he comes back, the better the team is.

At least, I hope they can’t.

Johnny Cueto left his start against the Pittsburgh Pirates early last night with pain in his right triceps.

Cueto said he felt something “sharp” in his arm after throwing a change-up to Pedro Alvarez in the fifth. He was fine before that.

“Yeah (I’m worried),” he said. “I was feeling really good. I wanted to stay in the game.”

He’s in Cincinnati getting it checked out today. Hopefully it’s something that won’t require more than a little time off. It sounds good that it’s not his shoulder or elbow. But he shouldn’t be rushed back onto the mound, especially this early in the season. A weakness in his tricep could lead to more pressure on other parts of his arm. No, it’s best to wait and hope that he’ll miss nothing more than a start or two.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Reds (5-2)	0	0	0	1	0	1	1	1	9	13	14	2
Cardinals (3-4)	2	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	4	4	1

Boxscore

It took a while for them to go, but when the 9th inning came yesterday in a tie game, my, how the Cincinnati Reds went.

Through the majority of the game, it wasn’t looking like it was the Reds’ day. Starter Mat Latos pitched well in his second start, continuing to make progress in erasing his history of poor Aprils, but Cincinnati was lacking on defense and offense. In particular, new center fielder Shin-Soo Choo had problems with the sun, dropping two balls and allowing 3 unearned Cardinals runs to score.

With the way Jaime Garcia was striking out Reds batters, it seemed like that would be enough. But the Reds kept staying close. Then in the 8th inning, pinch-hitter Xavier Paul singled into right field to score Jay Bruce and tie the game at 4.

The game felt like it was starting to turn to favor the Reds. And then the 9th inning happened. It started with a walk to Shin-Soo Choo. After getting Chris Heisey to pop out, everything fell apart for the Cardinals and their closer Mitchell Boggs. Joey Votto was intentionally walked, allowing Brandon Phillips to come to the plate and double in the go-ahead run.

A lead was all I was hoping for. What came next was a comedy of errors and ineptitude rarely displayed by a St. Louis ball club. 12 more batters went to the plate, and the Reds scored a total of 9 runs in the inning. Choo started everything with a walk, and in his second at-bat of the inning, he erased those 3 unearned runs he’d allowed by crushing a double that cleared the loaded bases.

All in all, it was a fun game. The Reds have faced nothing but good, playoff-contending teams to start the season, yet they sit atop the standings in first place with a 2 game lead on the Cardinals.