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.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Reds (97-65)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0
Cardinals (88-74)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	-	1	9	1

Boxscore

It took until the final game of the year for the Cincinnati Reds to play a meaningless game in the 2012 season. Thanks to the Los Angeles Dodgers losing and giving the St. Louis Cardinals the second wild card and the Washington Nationals winning and clinching the best record in the National League, the outcome of last night’s game had no meaning whatsoever.

And it felt like almost every Spring Training game I’ve ever attended. It was so much like Spring Training, that I expected the game to be called off early should the game finish in a tie.

There was the starter, Homer Bailey, pitching for only 4 innings. He did well, allowing no runs on 4 hits while striking out 6. But he left early to give the bullpen some work. Then there were all the later inning substitutions, providing a parade of minor league prospects onto the field. Tony Cingrani and Henry Rodriguez were chief among them. But the game was managed loosely, in a manner completely unlike the post-season will be managed.

There were no offensive heroes since the Reds were shut out. Bailey and the bullpen were very effective, with only the Jonathan Broxton being charged with a run.

The Reds will travel to San Francisco to rest up and get adjusted to the time zone change in advance of the first round of the National League Championship series on Saturday. Johnny Cueto will be the starter for the Reds with the first pitch scheduled for 9:37pm.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Reds (97-64)	0	0	0	1	0	2	0	0	0	3	8	9
Cardinals (87-74)	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	6	0

Boxscore

With the Washington Nationals winning, the Cincinnati Reds had to win to still have a chance at home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. Things didn’t start well.

With the exception of a Joey Votto walk–naturally–the Reds went through the first inning weakly. Then Mat Latos took the mound and allowed a double to the first batter he faced, Jon Jay. An out later, Jay scored thanks to a sacrifice fly by Carlos Beltran. Just like that, the Reds were down 1-0.

But Latos settled down. And the offense woke up. A little.

Scott Rolen homered in the 4th inning to tie the game. Then in the 6th inning, Votto lead off with another walk. Ryan Ludwick doubled to center field. Then Jay Bruce drove in Votto with a single for the lead. An out later, Dioner Navarro hit another single to give the Reds an insurance run.

Latos was pulled after pitching 5 innings. He allowed 1 run, 4 hits, 1 walk, and struck out 4 in picking up his 14th win. The early exit was due to not wearing him out before the playoffs.

The bullpen was more than up to the task of keeping the Cardinals off the board. Sam LeCure fulfilled the long-relief role before handing it over to the Reds’ three closers. Sean Marshall, Jonathan Broxton, and Aroldis Chapman closed it out. That is one fine trio to have heading into the playoffs.

For home-field advantage, the Nationals have to lose today, and the Reds have to win. Homer Bailey will be hoping to do that when he starts the last game of the regular season at 8:15pm.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Cardinals (69-57)	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	2	11	0
Reds (77-51)	0	0	1	0	0	3	4	0	-	8	12	0

Boxscore

Eight is the magic number of runs to score to win so far in this Reds-Cardinals series. St. Louis scored 8 and won the first game, and the Cincinnati Reds scored 8 yesterday to win the second of the three-game series.

Mike Leake started for the Reds against Jaime Garcia, in what looked like a wild mis-match in favor of the Cardinals. It didn’t turn out that way.

Leake wasn’t at his best, getting hit pretty hard, but he had a stellar defense behind him and was able to limit any damage from the 10 hits he allowed. He picked up his 6th win, pitching 6 2/3 innings, allowing 2 runs on 10 hits, walked none, and struck out 3.

By the time Leake left the game, the offense had the game well in hand. The bullpen did their part, too, though with Jonathan Broxton and J. J. Hoover both pitching scoreless innings. It may have been Broxton’s best outing as a Red, as he struck out 2 of the 4 batters he faced. He might be settling in to that 8th inning set-up role.

On the offense, the main heroes were Brandon Phillips and Jay Bruce. Phillips went 3-5 with 2 RBI and 2 runs scored. Bruce went 1-3 with a walk, but that one hit was big. Just seconds after Marty Brennaman complained on the radio about Bruce’s inability to hit left-handed pitchers, Bruce launched a no-doubt home run off of left-handed pitcher Garcia to give the Reds a 3-run lead they would not relinquish.

The Reds go for the series win today when Homer Bailey goes against at Adam Wainwright 1:10pom EDT.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Cardinals (69-56)	0	1	0	1	0	6	0	0	0	8	14	2
Reds (76-51)	2	1	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	5	12	0

Boxscore

In a game that started off looking good for the Cincinnati Reds, the St. Louis Cardinals exploded for 6 runs in the 6th inning to take the lead and win the game.

Mat Latos started for the Reds and was solid through the first 5 innings, allowing just 2 runs. During that time, the Reds’ offense had accumulated a 3-run lead for him to work with. But in the 6th, everything went to hell. Latos faced 5 batters, but retired none of them. All would eventually score. Latos’ final line was 5 innings, 9 hits, 7 runs, 1 walk, and 5 strikeouts.

As for the offense, they scored early, taking an early 2-0 lead in the first. Brandon Phillips singled in Zack Cozart. And then Drew Stubbs scored when Ryan Ludwick grounded out. A 3rd run was added in the very next inning when Ryan Hanigan hit a sacrifice fly to score Todd Frazier. Frazier knocked in the 4th run in the 3rd inning by singling in Phillips. The Reds’ scoring ended in the 5th inning, though, with a Scott Rolen double that knocked in Jay Bruce.

After the 5th, the offense was unable to regroup and show the patience required to come back from a 3-run deficit. The team struck out 14 times in the game, and showed little life against a weak Cardinals’ bullpen.

The loss reduces the Reds’ lead over the Cardinals to 6 games. The Reds will try to get that back to 7 today when they send Mike Leake out to face Jaime Garcia at 4:10pm EDT.